Family of five among yesterday’s new cases

AUCKLAND: A family of five is among new cases in managed isolation, and the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive in China is a confirmed case, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

The ministry said the crew member had been retested and returned another positive result, but all of the tests of the person’s contacts had returned negative.

The person had seven close contacts and six casual contacts, the ministry said.

It said only 10 people were recorded as having signed in at pet shop Animates Manukau between 1.22pm and 2.11pm when the person had been there, after the ministry sent a push notification to them.

Scientists were yesterday waiting for a sample from the person to help identify the strain of virus involved.

Dr Jemma Geoghegan, a virologist at University of Otago, said it was difficult to know how someone got the virus when there was no known contact with anyone who had the infection.

It was not clear where the staff member picked up the virus, but as a precaution the Ministry of Health was taking action as if it was acquired in New Zealand.

The crew member tested negative before leaving on the flight to China, but tested positive once the plane had arrived in Shanghai. The plane’s crew returned to New Zealand on a cargoonly flight and were separated from the person who tested positive and other crew members.

Of the eight managed isolation cases yesterday, five were a family who arrived on November 19 from Mexico via the United States and all tested positive around day three.

They, along with one person who arrived on November 19 from the United States and tested positive at around day three, had been taken to the Christchurch quarantine facility.

One other person arrived on November 19 from Finland via Sweden and Qatar and tested positive about day three, and another arrived on November 19 from Canada via Hong Kong and tested positive around day three. Both were in the Auckland quarantine facility.

There are two additional recovered cases, which means there are now 59 active cases of Covid19 in New Zealand. — RNZ