Covid-19 coronavirus: One new case today; Kiwis 'reluctant' to get tested

There is one new Covid case today in managed isolation.

The new case is a woman in her 20s who arrived from Ireland via Dubai on July 24. She was staying at the Rydges Hotel in Rotorua and has since been transferred to Auckland for quarantine.

Report into Hamish Walker and Michelle Boag's patient data leak

The health ministry has apologised to all Covid patients involved in the privacy breach.

On the report released by Michael Heron this morning into the leak, Health Minister Chris Hipkins described it as a "disgraceful and grubby act" by two National operatives.

Hipkins said Heron had got to the bottom of the inquiry, and identified improvements for the system. Any further action against Michelle Boag or Hamish Walker was outside his brief.

He said the risk of further leaks to privacy information had now been removed.

A breach of contract notice had been sent from the Health Ministry to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust following the breach, director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said.

Bloomfield said the transmission of the information by email could have been done more securely and from now on if similar information was to be shared it would be encrypted for security.

Bloomfield said there had since been an audit of the Health Ministry to see that any information being shared was being done correctly.

"One of the first things we will do will send it as a password-protected file, adding he was also looking to share the information by password encrypted means.

Kiwis don't want to get Covid test

Hipkins says testing in the community was not at the point the Government wanted.

"People are reluctant to be tested," Hipkins said.

"This is something that everyone needs to be a part of. If you are offered a test you should take a test," he said.

He said everybody in the team of 5 million needed to play their part.

"I don't want to be critical of the New Zealand public here but I am issuing an appeal to the public that we all need to be on our guard."

Neither Chris Hipkins nor Ashley Bloomfield had undergone a test.

Both said they had been well and not required the need for one.

He said refusing a test could mean the difference between identifying a chain of community transmission or Covid going unnoticed.

"We don't record the number of people being offered a test but we record the number of tests we do every day. GPs are not required to registered how many tests they offer," said Hipkins.

"Across the board, people are looking at New Zealand and seeing it's a pretty good place to be. My message to New Zealanders is to stay vigilant."

"The outbreak in Victoria shows that now is not the time to be complacent," said Hipkins.

He said the latest update of the Covid tracer app had been released,

"I encourage everyone to download the app and start using it," he said.

He said it now allowed for loading in places long after they had been visited.

Traveller to South Korea tests positive

Testing and contact tracing is underway after a 22-year-old man left Christchurch Airport on July 21 and tested positive for coronavirus soon after arriving in South Korea last week.

Details of the man's movements before he boarded the flight are still emerging including a visit to a supermarket and a McDonald's restaurant. The Countdown supermarket was closed for deep cleaning this week.

On the South Korean Covid case, there was still no evidence there was community transmission in New Zealand.

"We consider the risk low," said Bloomfield.

A second PCR test had shown the patient was positive.

He said they were still working to rule out the case had acquired the virus in New Zealand.

He said they were now aware of the person's movements around Christchurch before they left New Zealand.

However, we also want to do some further surveillance because we know the person has been in New Zealand in South Auckland and Queenstown.

Those in Queenstown between July 1 and 4 should get tested and people in Manurewa should also get tested.

"If you would like a test, do have one," said Bloomfield.

He said anyone who had concerns or symptoms to get advice from their GP or Healthline.

Bloomfield said there were 10 close contacts and 159 casual contacts on the flight to Christchurch the person took

There were a further six close contacts on a flight to Queenstown.

Seven other contacts including five household members and two friends were also being tested as they were considered close contacts of the South Korean person.

Of the 10 close contacts on the flight nine tests had returned negative with one result still pending.

Yesterday the ministry reported two more cases were detected in managed isolation.

One was a man in his 50s who arrived in the country from Afghanistan a fortnight ago and tested positive on day 12. He had since been transferred to an Auckland quarantine facility.

The second was a man in his 40's who arrived on Monday with covid symptoms. The ill man had travelled from the Philippines passing through Hong Kong. He was taken straight to a quarantine facility in Auckland where he tested positive.

There are now 23 active cases in New Zealand.

The Ministry of Health said all suffering from the virus are in quarantine and none are needing hospital care.

Meanwhile, those living in the same Auckland home with the traveller who tested positive and is now in a South Korean hospital had all returned negative results as well as those working at the border at Christchurch Airport.

Ministry staff were continuing to follow up his movements and working with health agencies in South Korea and Singapore to further investigate the situation, including awaiting the results of a second test.

Contact tracing of passengers on the Auckland to Christchurch domestic flight the man took on July 20 before leaving the country and other possible close contacts continued.

The health ministry initially said it strongly suspected the infected traveller may have contracted the virus during a layover at a Singapore Airport.

To date there are 1209 confirmed covid-19 cases in the country.

After Health Minister Chris Hipkins expressed his disappointment that testing had dropped to unacceptably low levels in recent weeks the ministry said 2,733 tests completed yesterday of which 2,481 were in the community.

The balance of 252 tests were taken from people in managed isolation and quarantine facilities.

There are now 621,000 registered users for the government's NZ COVID Tracer.

Kiwis were reminded to keep a record of where they had been.

"This remains one of the best tools in the continued fight against Covid-19. That's why we are continuing to encourage all New Zealanders to download, register and use the app," said the ministry.