Covid 19 coronavirus: 'Weak positive' retested and confirmed negative

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield gives the latest update on Covid-19. Photo / File

One person who initially tested positive for Covid-19 making "hearts flutter" has now been confirmed negative.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said this morning his team were notified of a possible positive result and because it was a very weak positive it was retested.

"Of course that made a few hearts flutter but the revalidation showed that it was a negative result which is good.

Bloomfield commended the two siblings who were tested, saying they did everything right, especially in terms of calling ahead.

"Again I think this goes to two points I want to make, one that we have excellent testing capacity because it is our intention to keep testing people ... that's how we will find any cases that may be out there.

"The second point is as the Prime Minister said yesterday that we will find further cases - finding them is a good thing because then we have the mechanisms to contain and prevent any further spread."

It comes after New Zealand was given the all clear again today with no new cases reported for 18 days straight.

The country was prepared, Bloomfield said during his update on the first day of alert level 1, which he hoped would be his last 1pm press conference and that he hoped "they'd served their purpose".

When asked what he would do with his new public profile, he said: "I was just doing my job."

For anyone who wants to keep seeing Bloomfield they could go to Te Papa, which is now displaying artwork of him, he joked.

Bloomfield said Kiwis should "have a dance if the mood takes them" now we're in level 1.

"We've done the hard mahi here and the work has paid off."

The last case, an Auckland woman in her 50s associated with the St Margaret's rest home in Auckland, had recovered from the virus.

Bloomfield yesterday said the woman's recovery was "really good news" for her and something "the rest of New Zealand can take heart in".

"Having no active cases for the first time since February 28 is certainly a significant mark in our journey but as we've previously said, ongoing vigilance against Covid-19 will continue to be essential," Bloomfield said yesterday.

Our total number of confirmed cases remains at 1154, which is the number the country reports to the World Health Organisation.

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