BUBBLE UNAFFECTED

AUCKLAND: A new borderrelated Covid-19 case will not affect the justannounced transtasman bubble.

Directorgeneral of health Ashley Bloomfield yesterday announced a 24yearold security guard who works at the Grand Millennium, in Auckland, had tested positive.

He was last tested on Tuesday and had a sore throat four days ago. He had not been vaccinated.

The man lived alone but Auckland Regional Public Health was investigating contact with his neighbours. He travelled to work with a colleague, who was being tested. The colleague had been fully vaccinated.

The man worked at Easter but was not at work or in contact with anyone on Wednesday.

During a visit to Dunedin yesterday, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said while any border case was a concern, this case looked fairly well contained.

The case would not affect the transtasman travel bubble, announced this week and due to begin on April 19, he said.

‘‘In this particular case, it doesn’t look at this point as if we’re going to need to have any additional protective measures. The contact tracing should be able to work, we should be able to identify any other people who may be at risk, make sure they’re isolating and then, hopefully, that all working as it should, should draw a ring around that.’’

Genome sequencing had started and would likely be completed this afternoon.

The border worker would have been offered a vaccination but Dr Bloomfield did not have details on why he had not been. His understanding was the man had not declined a vaccination.

The vaccination rate of border workers was about 95%, he said.

He also announced 23 new cases in MIQ yesterday, 19 of which were acute and four which were historical.

Dr Bloomfield said it had ‘‘always been hard’’ to prevent Covid spreading to the community via the border. It was not getting more difficult but did require vigilance and hard work.

He also confirmed the Valentine’s Day cluster was now officially closed.

That was because it had been 28 days since the last identified case in the cluster had recovered.

The source of the outbreak had not been determined but all cases were linked through genome sequencing. — The New Zealand Herald/Additional reporting Daisy Hudson