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Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins says there is one new community case of Covid-19 in Auckland.
“There is at this point no clear link to a facility or the border,” he said.
“I want to stress that we’re in the early days of information coming through … we will be undertaking a further press conference today about 5pm.”
He says there is a plan for dealing with cases in the community and the plan has stamped out community cases before.
Watch the media conference here:
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the other two cases include one returnee and another community case that is linked to the November quarantine cluster.
The cluster case is a close contact of “Case B” in that cluster and tested positive yesterday, 11 November, after developing symptoms. They had already been in isolation since Saturday, as had their close family members, in Wellington, Bloomfield said.
The Auckland community case became symptomatic on Monday 9 November – they were tested late on 10 November and went to work at A to Z Collection on High Street from Monday 9 to Wednesday 11 November.
The test was confirmed this morning, mid morning, and they are being moved into quarantine.
Bloomfield says this shows why it is important for anyone who has symptoms to remain at home in isolation.
The person lives alone and seems to have had limited outings recently. They have not visited a supermarket during the period they may have been infectious. They are a student at AUT but have not been to the campus since mid-October so there is no risk at the university.
People who may have visited the A to Z Collection store at 61 High street in Auckland, or who is a resident at or visitor to the Vincent Residency at 106 Vincent Street in central Auckland between Saturday 7 and today, 12 November is asked to get a test and isolate until they get the results.
Anyone who has symptoms around New Zealand should also seek a test and isolate until they get a negative result, he says.
At this stage the government is not advising changes to other settings.
The imported case arrived on 9 November from Los Angeles, returned a positive test around day 3 and is in quarantine.
Two cases have recovered and the country now has 53 active cases and a total 1635 confirmed cases, Bloomfield says.
On the November cluster, Case C is a civilian NZ Defence Force worker and a close contact of Case B. they went to lunch at Little Penang on The Terrace on Friday last week in Wellington.
They isolated at home on Saturday after developing symptoms and had a test. They initially tested negative but were moved to quarantine as a precaution and tested again, testing positive.
Yesterday one new case was reported in managed isolation and the West Indies men’s cricket team were to be denied further training privileges after breaking managed isolation rules inside their Christchurch facility, the Ministry of Health said.
Meanwhile, the government planning is well under way for the rollout of a vaccine for Covid-19, with specialised freezers and equipment purchased for storage and at ultra-low temperatures. The US the drug company Pfizer announced this week that the vaccine it is developing looks very promising.