Covid update: One new case in managed isolation

There is one new Covid-19 case in managed isolation today, a young boy who arrived in New Zealand from the UK.

There have been no new community cases for six days in a row, and the cluster connected to the Sofrana Surville ship and a marine engineer who worked on it has so far been contained to three people.

Seven more cases have now recovered so the active cases are 68, Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said today.

There were 2311 tests processed yesterday which Dr Bloomfield said reflected the holiday weekend.

He said since the new community case was uncovered there'd been tens of thousands of community tests, and he thanked those working in testing centres and the laboratories.

There have now been 100 million scans of the Covid Tracer app and the average number of daily scans was up on the week before which Bloomfield said was "pleasing".

But he said New Zealanders should continue scanning because "the more we scan, the safer we'll be".

Young traveller from NZ tests positive in Japan

Health authorities are investigating after a child tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in Japan - despite testing negative for the virus in New Zealand.

"We do believe this is a historic case of false positive," Dr Bloomfield said.

He said they were working with their Japanese counterparts to get a second test done.

While waiting for the results, close family members in New Zealand have been isolated and tested and returned negative results, the local health unit has been in touch with the childcare centre the child attended and told them the situation was low risk and anyone on the same domestic flight as the family are asked to monitor their health.

That family is in managed isolation in Japan. Serology testing has also been requested.

Hawke's Bay's medical officer of health Dr Nick Jones said the situation was "low risk".

The child was also on an Air New Zealand flight from Napier to Auckland on October 22, Jones said.

Anyone aboard flight NZ5018 should remain vigilant to any symptoms of Covid-19, including a new or worsening cough, fever and a loss of taste or smell, and self-isolate or seek a test if they develop symptoms.

Napier ship and foreign fishermen

The ship sitting off Napier to isolate has now docked in Napier and all crew have returned negative tests but none are leaving the dock while it's in at port.

And there is a revised count of the number of international seamen who tested positive at a border hotel in Christchurch - that number stands at 29.

Dr Bloomfield said health officials hadn't changed their requirement for day 3 and day 12 testing - they added the day 6 testing in Christchurch because there was "intermingling" and it was an extra measure.

They hadn't decided how long that group would be staying in managed isolation and were waiting until the results of the day 12 tests before making that decision, Dr Bloomfield  said.

Health officials are reviewing whether workers coming into New Zealand then straight onto a ship should also complete the 14 days of isolation and are providing advice to the Health Minister this week, he said.

His view was there was a common interest for New Zealand and ships that replacement crew are Covid-free when they join the ship.

Over the long Labour Weekend, health officials reported being pleased with the number of people getting tests - especially those in Auckland.

On Saturday almost 5400 tests were processed and on Sunday there were just over 3000.

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