Covid 19 coronavirus: Two new cases, one in community - source being investigated

There are two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today.

The first has been detected in a recent returnee in a managed isolation facility, and the second is a community case.

The source of the community case is being investigated.

Fifty people linked to the community cluster remain in the Jet Park quarantine facility. That includes 20 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 as well as their household contacts.

Four people are in hospital with Covid-19 – one each at Auckland City and North Shore hospitals and two in Middlemore. All four patients are in isolation on a general ward.

Since August 12, 3918 people have been identified as close contacts of cases. Of those, 3912 have been contacted and are self-isolating.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. File photo / Mark Mitchell

The Ministry of Health is in the process of contacting the rest.

There are five recovered cases to report, bringing our total number of active cases to 67.

Of those, 34 are imported cases in MIQ facilities, and 33 are community cases.

Our total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is now 1460, which is the number we report to the World Health Organisation.

Yesterday, laboratories processed 8359 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 905,436.

Yesterday marked four days since there was a case of community transmission of the virus, which returned to New Zealand with the Auckland cluster last month.

There are now 2,235,600 users registered on NZ Covid Tracer.

The app has recorded a total of 64,626,993 poster scans, and users have created 3,035,580 manual diary entries.

Twenty-five people in New Zealand have died of the virus which has spread around the world this year, infecting 30 million and killing almost 950,000.

The Herald revealed this morning that almost 100 healthcare workers were infected with Covid-19 while they were doing their jobs during the first outbreak - equating to 10 per cent of all local cases.

Health unions say workplaces failed to keep staff safe and want a WorkSafe investigation. They're also frustrated with the lack of detailed information about how workers were infected with the deadly virus saying "it isn't good enough" it hasn't been publicly reported.