Charter flight cases gathered in Taupo¯

Two people who tested positive for Covid-19 after returning to Auckland from managed isolation in Christchurch on September 11, visited Taupo¯ for a large gathering a week later.

A significant cluster has now been established including a total of 31 people, after three people tested positive on Wednesday.

They were tested because they were close flight contacts of a man on the charter flight who later tested positive on September 20.

The two cases and a household contact tested positive on September 22. The family has been self-isolating for the last four days.

Public health services continue to contact trace, test and isolate close contacts of the three community cases.

The family travelled to Taupo¯ between September 18 and 20, where they met up with 18 others from five locations.

Those 18 people, who travelled from Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton, are all considered close contacts.

In addition to those 18 people, another 13 people have been identified as close contacts.

All 31 contacts have been or are in the process of being tested and all are isolating.

Public health services have been in contact with businesses that individuals may have visited while infectious.

Places and times of those visits assessed as requiring public notice at this stage are:

Christchurch Airport, September 11, 10.30am-12.30pm; Hot pools at DeBretts Spa Resort, Taupo¯, September 18, 2.30pm-7pm; Taupo Tandem Skydiving based at Taupo¯ Airport, September 19, 2pm-3.30pm; Just Cuts, Westfield St Lukes, September 17, 4pm-5pm.

Anyone who visited these places at these times should be vigilant of their health and get tested if they develop symptoms.

The National Contact Tracing team is working to identify other locations of interest and expects to be able to issue exposure notices through the Covid Tracer App.

The extensive use of the app by one of these cases significantly assisted contact tracing efforts, a Ministry of Health spokesman said.

For more details about where to get a Covid-19 test in the locations from which the travellers came, visit these links:

In Auckland, visit Auckland Regional Public Health Service’s website;

In Bay of Plenty, visit the DHB’s website;

In Waikato, visit the DHB’s website;

In Wellington, visit Capital & Coast DHB’s website;

In Christchurch, visit Canterbury DHB’s website.