More cases in community ‘highly likely’

It is ‘‘highly likely’’ there will be more community cases of Covid-19 in the coming days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

Ardern made the comments during a 1pm press conference at the Beehive, hours after Auckland was placed in alert level 3 and the rest of the country in alert level 2. The levels were shifted at 6am yesterday after a new community case of Covid-19 was announced in South Auckland. The 21-year-old man, who is being referred to as Case M, is the older sibling of a Papatoetoe High School student.

The school is at the centre of an existing cluster of Covid19. However, the student has returned three negative tests and is asymptomatic.

Case M’s mother, who is being referred to as Case N, has also tested positive.

Authorities said on Saturday they did not know how Case M had contracted the virus. However, yesterday, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said testing showed Case M’s strain of the virus appeared to be linked to another Papatoetoe family in the cluster.

The two families are known to each other. ‘‘We have a possible person-to-person link for how Cases M and N may have picked up the virus. That is good news,’’ Ardern said.

Given cases from the new cluster had visited a number of high-traffic areas, including a supermarket and a Kmart, it was probable others had contracted the virus, she said.

‘‘It is highly likely there will be additional cases in the community but they might not show up in test results for a few days yet.’’

Twenty-five close contacts of Case M have been identified at Manukau Institute of Technology, where he is a student.

There was one late community case announced late yesterday – someone in quarantine. Two cases of

Covid-19 were announced in ‘‘border’’ managed isolation.