Covid 19 coronavirus: No new cases in the community, one in managed isolation

By Jason Walls

Political Editor – Newstalk ZB·NZ Herald·

13 Mar, 2021 11:45 PM4 mins to read

Covid testing in Otara earlier this month. Photo / Dean Purcell

There are no new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, but there is one in managed isolation.

That person flew to New Zealand from the United Arab Emirates and was picked up on a day 3 test.

That means the total number of active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand is 87. There are no active cases in the community.

Meanwhile, officials have revealed there were 4500 Covid-19 tests processed yesterday. The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,818,986.

And there more than 1.3 million scans recorded through the COVID Tracer app in the last 24 hours.

"It's great to see ongoing good use of the NZ COVID Tracer app and it's vitally important that Kiwis continue to do so," a health official said in a statement.

"Please scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard if you haven't already done so."

Since January 1, there have been 39 historical cases, out of a total of 256 cases.

It has now been a month since the Valentine's Day cluster was discovered.

Fifteen people in this cluster contracted Covid-19 and Auckland was forced into lockdown twice as a result of the spreading community cases.

All those 15 people have now recovered.

On Friday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took Auckland out of alert level 2 – putting the city at level 1 with the rest of the country.

This came as welcome, but unsurprising, news to Aucklanders.

Although the city was in lockdown for seven days, then at level 2 for another seven days, not a single community case was discovered.

This is despite a testing blitz in Auckland, where tens of thousands of people were tested for the virus.

Ardern and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff thanked Aucklanders for their sacrifices over the two-week period.

They also asked all of New Zealand to continue to be vigilant to make sure the virus does not re-enter the community.

How Covid-19 got into the community in the first place remains a mystery.

Officials have a number of theories but have been unable to pinpoint exactly how the first case was contracted on February 14.

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This, however, is not unusual.

The origin of the August cluster last year was never found and director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield recently said it was "absolutely" possible the origin of the Valentine's Day cluster would forever remain a mystery.

Now, the Government's focus is on the Covid-19 vaccine.

The vast majority of New Zealand's frontline health and border workers have now been vaccinated. Their close contacts are now getting the jab.

The wider vaccination campaign for New Zealand will begin midway through the year.

In the meantime, New Zealanders from overseas continue to return to the country.

The ones with Covid-19 are usually caught early on , as a result of day 0/1 testing rules.

There were three new cases caught in MIQs yesterday – one person from Brazil and two from India.

The total number of active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand – all in managed isolate – is 88.

Since the start of the pandemic a year ago, New Zealand has had 2066 cases of Covid-19.

As a per capita measure, New Zealand has one of the lowest levels of Covid-19 in the world.

Despite this, officials continue to ask people to follow health advice, even during level 1.

"Stay home if [you're] unwell and get advice about having a test, wash hands, cough and sneeze into the elbow and wear masks or face coverings on all public transport.

"Keep track of where you've been - scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard."

Covid-19 in NZ —

Active cases

Confirmed & probable

Border cases

Community cases

In Hospital

Total cases

Recovered

Deaths