One case, one being investigated

There is one active case of coronavirus in Marlborough, while the case of a Nelson supermarket worker remains under investigation.

Nelson Marlborough Health clinical director of public health Dr Stephen Bridgman said the most recent Nelson case, a woman in her 30s, who was an essential worker from Stoke New World, was still being investigated.

The woman was no longer being monitored by the Public Health Service as she was no longer infectious.

To date, 10 close contacts directly related to the case had been tested as requested by Dr Bridgman. All had returned a negative result.

Nationally, 1 per cent of the country’s 1498 cases are still under investigation, with 95 per cent of cases considered to have recovered from the virus. The death toll is 21.

Bridgman earlier said current evidence suggested there was no community transmission in the Nelson region and that it was hoped the investigation into the Stoke case would determine the source of the infection.

Last week, testing was offered to all Stoke New World employees who did not have any symptoms.

While it might seem strange that no close contacts of the case had tested positive, Dr Bridgman said health professionals were still learning about the new virus.

‘‘But we do know, from Chinese case studies and others, that not everyone within a family will catch the disease.’’

If people were using thorough hygiene practices – washing their hands and cleaning frequently touched surfaces, then the changes of infecting close contacts were reduced.

‘‘The type of symptoms a case has and the degree to which they have these symptoms, might also have an effect on the infection rate for close contacts.’’

Someone with a bad cough or sneeze will have to be extra careful as the virus is spread on sneeze and cough droplets.

Nelson Covid-19 cases

The first case of coronavirus was announced in Nelson on March 16 and in the two months since, the number of confirmed cases in the region reached 23.

There are also five probable cases in Nelson, someone who is most likely a case but the clinician could not prove this by lab testing.

A 20-year-old woman who arrived in Nelson after travelling from the United States on March 16 was confirmed as the first case of the virus in the region, announced by Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield on March 21.

It came almost a month after the first New Zealand case, a person in their 60s who had returned to Auckland from Iran, was confirmed as having the virus on February 28.

A spokeswoman for Nelson Marlborough Health said at the time the woman’s risk to the community was very low because she went immediately into isolation upon her return to Nelson.

Getting an accurate breakdown of the case count across the Nelson and Marlborough district has not always been easy.

Discrepancies between Ministry of Health and district health board data and a difficulty distinguishing between Nelson and Marlborough cases has confused the tally several times.

The health board has said all cases are thought to be travelrelated and there is no strong evidence of a community outbreak in the region.