Jet Park worker positive

Two new cases of coronavirus were reported yesterday, with one being a health worker at an Auckland quarantine facility.

It’s the first time a staff member at Jet Park Hotel has tested positive for Covid-19 since it started operating as a quarantine facility almost six months ago.

The other new case is a person who returned from South Africa on September 8, who is in quarantine in Canterbury, health officials said.

There were no confirmed cases linked to Auckland’s community cluster yesterday, one day before Government officials were set to decide on the country’s alert levels.

However, officials said the hotel worker case was still being investigated to determine if the infection came from the community, or from within the quarantine facility.

‘‘At this stage no obvious links to other cases in the community have been established,’’ a Ministry of Health spokesperson said.

Five household contacts of the hotel worker were in isolation at their home and were to be tested for Covid19 yesterday.

Genome testing would be undertaken to see what strain of the virus the worker had, to help identify the source, with results due today, the spokesperson said.

‘‘This case, which was found from routine weekly testing, demonstrates the value of the regular testing of all staff.

‘‘The health worker was tested last week and returned a negative test, so has picked up the virus in between the weekly tests, which are done as part of the regular testing of people working in the quarantine facility.’’

Auckland Regional Public Health Service was working with the facility to check protocols and procedures.