NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Covid 19 coronavirus: Close contacts of community case test negative

Amelia Wade
By Amelia Wade
Political reporter·NZ Herald·
27 Jan, 2021 12:43 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Close contacts of Covid case test negative, woman now 'recovered'.

All of the close contacts of the Northland community Covid case have now tested negative for the virus.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield also confirmed today that the infected woman was now considered "recovered".

She was still isolating at home but was "well again".

There were "no further firm leads" regarding how the woman caught the virus in managed isolation, but Bloomfield said he believed it was unlikely to have been transmitted through the hotel's air conditioning.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the negative test results were "encouraging".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There have been no new cases in the community connected to the Northland woman who tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday after leaving managed isolation at Auckland's Pullman Hotel on January 13.

Bloomfield said there were "encouraging signs" in Northland but the situation was still unfolding.

"We're not breathing out just yet."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The close contacts of the Northland woman will remain in isolation for the full 14 days despite testing negative.

The 353 guests at the Pullman Hotel at the same time as the woman are being contacted and tested - so far all staff and guests have tested negative.

There are also four new cases in managed isolation facilities today. The total number of active cases is 68 - including the one in the community.

Hipkins said he didn't think people "should be making up their own sets of rules" in response to a question about a Nelson cafe banning customers who'd recently left managed isolation - especially if it impinged on their rights and freedoms.

Discover more

New Zealand

Auckland steakhouse offers Covid tracer discount

27 Jan 02:25 AM

"We're making it very hard to keep the team of five million all rowing in the same direction."

He said people issuing their own guidance led to confusion.

When will NZ get a vaccine?

Hipkins said he wanted to restate that the "thorough" Medsafe approval process had no impact on when the vaccines arrive in the country.

He also reiterated the vaccination programme would likely be a "year-long process" and that vaccinations wouldn't initially available to the general population as the priority was border workers and their close contacts.

Hipkins said "if you do the maths", the vaccination programme meant 10 million vaccinations because they required two doses so it would take at least 200 days to complete the overall vaccination campaign.

"It will be a numbers game."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said he wasn't "blind" to what was happening with the rest of the world and delays other countries were experiencing.

Bloomfield said the vaccines had to go through the Medsafe approval, on top of international processes, to ensure it was safe to use on balance in New Zealand's unique circumstances where we don't have community transmission.

He said the vaccines were being used in other countries under emergency approvals - rather than the full approval process.

Hipkins said it was hard to argue on humanitarian grounds against countries with widespread transmission getting the vaccine first.

He said he couldn't see there being quick changes to border restrictions for people who've received the Pfizer vaccine and coming into New Zealand.

"I don't think that's likely to be sudden or quick."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There will be a paid advertising campaign ahead of the vaccination programme "when we need to do that", said Hipkins. He didn't have a budget for the campaign on hand.

Bloomfield said there were two parts to the campaign - firstly making sure information was available about the vaccine then a proactive campaign.

"You can start to see that in the next few weeks."

The vaccination sites will likely be similar to the testing sites, said Hipkins

Bloomfield said they'd been doing population surveying about vaccination hesitancy - 70 per cent said they would get it if they had good information, 20 per cent would get it with more information and 10 per cent said they wouldn't be vaccinated.

The Government is aspiring to vaccinate 90 per cent of the population.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Testing times

More than 10,800 tests were processed yesterday.

The more than 1.5 million tests completed since the pandemic began means that we have the highest rate of testing per positive case in the world, alongside Australia.

Bloomfield said Healthline had short wait times and demand for testing at Northland testing sites had eased.

He said he didn't think it was good enough that people waited hours for a test in Northland and they were looking at how to improve standing up sites quickly.

There are 327 people who are confirmed as being at the locations of interest which the Northland community case visited - 127 of these people have tested negative. People should be isolating and getting tested if they were at those locations, Bloomfield said.

Yesterday contact tracers had identified 16 potential close contacts of the woman and of those 15 had tested negative, including her husband.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking earlier today that he did not think MIQ facilities were "too loose" in managing returnees, but procedures were still being reviewed to tighten any gaps that came to light.

He said any expert comments that highlighted flaws in how facilities were operating were always taken seriously.

A total of 102,000 people had come through MIQ since the facilities were established to manage returning Kiwis last year.

Bloomfield remained confident the Pfizer vaccine would arrive in this country in the first quarter.

Medsafe was expected to give approval for the vaccine next Tuesday at the earliest.

"We are confident of getting the vaccine when we said we'll get it," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Pullman Auckland hotel, where the Northland woman was believed to have been infected, was audited yesterday. Bloomfield said it was now considered "really unlikely" that she was infected via the facility's air conditioning system.

"We did an audit on the Pullman hotel yesterday on the infection prevention control. We've expedited a look at the ventilation system. The ventilation system is really unlikely, we haven't seen that as an issue around the globe, but we are not leaving any stone unturned."

Yesterday 157 Pullman hotel staff had been tested, along with 192 guests currently in the facility. Of those, 30 still have test results to come and all others tested negative.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday announced Medsafe approval for the Pfizer vaccine could happen as early as next week and frontline border workers will be the first to receive it.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'Serious injuries': Crews work to free people after Tasman SH6 crash

19 Jun 09:24 AM
Premium
Opinion

Opinion: Jewish communities facing increased threats

19 Jun 09:00 AM
New Zealand

Thirty-one players win $12k each in Lotto's Second Division draw

19 Jun 07:57 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'Serious injuries': Crews work to free people after Tasman SH6 crash

'Serious injuries': Crews work to free people after Tasman SH6 crash

19 Jun 09:24 AM

Emergency services were called to the scene about 8.30pm.

Premium
Opinion: Jewish communities facing increased threats

Opinion: Jewish communities facing increased threats

19 Jun 09:00 AM
Thirty-one players win $12k each in Lotto's Second Division draw

Thirty-one players win $12k each in Lotto's Second Division draw

19 Jun 07:57 AM
Probe into man who abused girl as he read her stories led to another sinister finding

Probe into man who abused girl as he read her stories led to another sinister finding

19 Jun 07:00 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP