Two new Covid-19 case discoveries today proves the Government's isolation and quarantine system is working, the heads of the operation say.
There are two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today - one of the cases is a child under 2.
Both cases were recent arrivals from overseas and both were detected within managed isolation facilities, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. Neither involves community transmission.
Today's firstcase is the young child of the couple announced yesterday as cases who have recently arrived from India.
"We are pleased to report that all family members are doing well at the Jet Park Hotel, the quarantine facility in Auckland," the ministry said.
"We will not be providing exact details of the child's age but can say they are under 2 years old."
The second case is a 59-year-old woman who travelled from Delhi and who arrived in Auckland on June 15 on flight AI1316.
She was tested while at the Grand Millennium managed isolation facility and was travelling with her partner, who has also been tested, and whose result is pending.
An update would be provided on Monday on this case and the follow-up of other cases from last week, the ministry said.
This couple are also now in quarantine at the Jet Park.
Everyone who was at the Grand Millennium while those people were there has or will be tested as part of the testing on days 3 and 12 that is now routine at all managed isolation facilities, today's statement confirms.
"This result was picked up in the woman's day 3 test and is an example of the new testing regime working as it should."
As of June 20, there were 36 children aged 0 to 9 in New Zealand who had been infected with Covid-19. All cases have since recovered.
There have been seven cases of Covid-19 detected in returning passengers in the last week.
The first two were women returning from the UK because an elderly parent was ill. The parent subsequently died, and it emerged the women had left quarantine without a Covid test.
Out of 386 people being followed up and tested as part of a precautionary approach in relation to the two women, 288 negative tests have now been recorded; 25 people are still being contacted.
For the case who travelled from Pakistan, 207 people were identified for follow-up as part of a precautionary approach, including those on the same flight.
Of those, 25 people have been tested (who hadn't already been or were to be tested as part of managed isolation protocols), with 15 negative test results to date.
Some 177 further people will be captured by testing around day 12 in the managed isolation facility. To date, 94 of these people have been tested.
Efforts continue to follow up the small number of people the ministry had not managed to reach yet, it said.
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield reiterated that the Government was always expecting to get new cases at our border as New Zealanders return home from overseas.
"It is good that the systems are in place to detect these cases. Testing, particularly at the border, will continue to be an important part of our Covid-19 response," he said in a statement this afternoon.
"Yesterday, New Zealand's laboratories completed 5950 tests, bringing the total completed to date to 341,117."
He said that was a very high Saturday total, which he said again underscored the high capacity of the laboratories and the testing that continued in the community and across New Zealand's managed isolation facilities.
The two new cases bring the total number of confirmed cases to 1161 - the total of confirmed and probable cases is 1511.
The number of recovered cases remains at 1482 and there are no additional deaths to report.
The ministry confirmed no one in New Zealand is receiving hospital-level care for Covid-19.
Meanwhile, the NZ Covid Tracer has now recorded 573,000 registrations - an increase of 2000 since this time yesterday.
"We've found and are fixing an issue which meant the app stopped scanning posters properly on android devices, after a user had been logged in for more than 30 days," the ministry said today.
"If a user's phone is set to automatic updates, the fix will be applied over the next few days. Users can resolve the issue right away by logging out and logging back in on the 'my profile' screen. If they have forgotten their password, they can use the password reset function."
The ministry said if a user downloaded the app 25 days ago or less, the bug would not affect them.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has always said New Zealand would see new cases of Covid-19, given the pandemic is still ranging overseas.
She and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, both expect more cases to emerge in the coming weeks and months, but say they can be managed in isolation.
