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There are two new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation facilities in the country today, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there are still no cases reported from the community.
Both cases have been in managed isolation since they arrived and are now in the quarantine facility in Auckland, Dr Bloomfield said.
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One is a man in his 50s who arrived in NZ from India on 24 June – his result came from day 3 testing.
The second is a woman in her 20s who arrived from the US on 18 June, the wife of a previous case who tested positive on 22 June and was already in quarantine as she was considered a close contact.
Dr Bloomfield says the continued spread of the virus overseas is highlighted by a report from the WHO, “which noted a record number of cases over the preceding 24 hours, over 189,000 cases recorded, and you’ll be aware also that the number of cases worldwide has now exceeded 10 million.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this morning looked to reassure the public in wake of the review on managed isolation, saying she wants people to remember that testing has shown no evidence of the coronavirus in the community.
The review found the managed isolation and quarantine system to be under “extreme stress” and unable to respond to the increasing demands being placed on it as more New Zealanders returned home.
Ardern told Morning Report today there had been 80,000 tests for Covid-19 in the past 13 days with no positive results in the community.
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The head of managed isolation, Air Commodore Darryn Webb, expected the number of people coming in to the country to increase and said policy decisions would need to be made on regulating that.
The maximum capacity for managed isolation at present was 5764 people.
“We do have an ability to meet a growing need, but there’s no doubt from a system perspective, growing supply and demand both work closely together so we will have to think about those supply issues as well.”
If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs)