Nine new Covid cases over past two days

There are nine new cases of Covid-19 from the last two days, all in managed isolation.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 73.

Three of today's cases came from the US, with one person testing positive for Covid after arriving in the country under the new pre-flight testing regulations.

Other travellers with Covid come from India, Kazakhstan, India, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

From Ministry of Health
From Ministry of Health
Two people from the US who arrived on January 7 and tested positive on day 12 were part of the same family bubble, the ministry said. The third person from the USA arrived in New Zealand on January 18 and tested positive on day three.

Four people who arrived in the country from India, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates on January 19 all tested positive for Covid on day zero.

Yesterday the ministry released its latest genomic sequencing results of people who had tested positive for the infection since January 6.

Tests have now detected 36 people arriving in New Zealand with the contagious strains since they emerged late last year - 29 samples of the UK variant and seven of the South African variant.

In the past fortnight, 17 more people were now in quarantine facilities infected with two highly contagious Covid-19 strains.

Whole genome sequencing had identified 11 samples of B.1.1.7 (known as the UK variant) and six samples of B.1.3.5.1 (known as the South Africa variant).

The ministry warned these strains would continue to show up in managed isolation facilities across New Zealand.

"We expect we will continue to see both the UK variant and South Africa variant in positive cases in our managed isolation facilities here in New Zealand as these forms of the virus become increasingly common around the world," said the ministry.

Comments

It's a 'flu, and some people are dying, but NOT as many as die from the yearly 'flu. We are told millions are dying of this 'flu which is a straight out lie. People are dying WITH the covid, not of it.
When did we ever shut down the world for a 'flu? We didn't even do it for the Spanish 'flu where a hundred million died. This is ruining us.