There are no new Covid-19 cases in the community - the Government says it will be going deep into Wednesday before making a call on the status of the country's alert levels.
Auckland remains under alert level 3 restrictions and the rest of the country under alert level 2 after a family of three in South Auckland tested positive for Covid-19.
The Government is scrambling to identify the source of infection, but has confirmed two cases are infected with the UK strainof the virus.
All close contacts of the family have so far returned negative tests, along with thousands of others, showing "encouraging" signs.
The three community cases are a mother, father and daughter from the same South Auckland household.
The daughter is a Year 9 student at Papatoetoe High School, the mother a worker at international airline food and laundry provider LSG Sky Chefs, and the father is a self-employed tradesperson.
The daughter attended school for one day last week, principal Vaughan Couillault confirmed to the Herald.
LSG Sky Chefs in Mangere services at least 34 airlines around the world, according to its website, including Air New Zealand.
The mother's main duty is within the laundry area of Sky Chefs, but she is also involved with the packing of food. The Ministry of Health does not believe she was infectious while at work.
Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said early reports from an infection protection and control audit of Sky Chefs shows its practices are in line with "what we would expect".
LSG Sky Chefs. Photo / File
But some LSG Sky Chefs products have since been pulled from supermarket shelves and its laundry arm closed.
Some Foodstuffs stores in the North Island sell ready meals, sandwiches and muesli pottles which are produced by LSG Sky Chefs.
Pak'n'Save in Manukau. Photo / Peter Meecham
The products have been removed from the shelves out of an "abundance of caution" until more is known about the source of the recent community cases, a spokesperson told the Herald.
KiwiRail uses LSG Sky Chefs catering for its "scenic services" out of Christchurch.
Due to the change in alert levels, the services are currently suspended until further notice due to social distancing challenges.
Testing positive
The mother and daughter were tested when they felt symptomatic, and their positive results came through on the evening of Saturday February 13. The pair have "new and active infections", the Ministry said.
The daughter was first to report the onset of symptoms, before the mother.
Bloomfield said today: "We have to be open-minded that she could be the first case, and could have got it somewhere else. And that's what we're trying to track down."
The woman was one of several LSG Sky Chefs employees who missed a scheduled test at the start of the month because she was on annual leave.
The father was tested and his positive result was confirmed on the morning of Sunday February 14. The public was notified that afternoon and the Government plunged the country into tighter alert level restrictions from midnight on Sunday.
The family household was placed into isolation on Saturday and then moved to Jet Park – Auckland's quarantine facility – on Sunday.
The family has one other household contact who has tested negative. They are in isolation.
The UK strain
The Ministry confirmed on Monday that the mother and daughter have been infected with a UK strain of the virus.
The results do not link directly to any other positive cases detected in New Zealand to date, it said in a statement.
"ESR is conducting a scan of the international genome database to see if there is a match.
"This result reinforces the decision to take swift and robust action around the latest cases to detect and stamp out the possibility of any further transmission."
Close contacts
Today Bloomfield confirmed there are 109 close contacts of the three cases.
Fourteen of 36 students and teachers from Papatoetoe High School have returned negative test results, as well as all close contacts of the father.
Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that if all of the close contacts came back negative "that would reduce the likelihood" Covid-19 was widespread in the community.
Separately, seven of nine close colleagues of the mother have returned negative tests so far.
Almost six thousand tests were carried out yesterday.
A second visit to a Papatoetoe dairy has emerged with a new date and time added to the list.
Customers who visited the Ranfurly Skinny Superette last Friday at dinner time are being asked to self-isolate and get tested.
The Ministry of Health has added this new visit to its locations of interest after earlier listing the store as a possible place of exposure following a visit on Saturday evening by one of the three cases.
The second and earlier visit to the Ranfurly Skinny Superette took place on February 12 between 5.30-6.35pm.
Those who were at the dairy on Friday at the same time as the infected customer are being considered casual plus contacts. They are being asked to stay home, contact Healthline and get a test tomorrow.
An undisclosed medical centre has also become a location of interest, where the family went to get tested for Covid-19.
