There are four new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation to report in New Zealand, all in managed isolation.
The Ministry of Health provided details of the new cases this afternoon.
- One person arrived from Qatar via Australia on November 5 and tested positive at routine testing around day 12 of their stay in managed isolation.
- Two people arrived from the United Kingdom via Qatar and Australia on November 12 and tested positive at routine testing around day 3 of their stay in managed isolation.
- One person arrived from France via Qatar and Australia on November 12 and tested positive at routine testing around day 3 of their stay in managed isolation.
The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is now 1,649. One previously reported case has now recovered, which means there are 61 active cases of the virus in New Zealand.
Yesterday laboratories completed 6146 tests for Covid-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,191,034.
Defence Force cluster
It has now been 14 days since authorities reported a Defence Force worker (Case A) at the Jet Park hotel had tested positive for Covid.
"While it is encouraging that during this time we have only identified another four cases of Covid-19 that are all connected to Case A, it has not yet been 14 days since the last identified cases - Case D and Case E - were out in the community," the Ministry of Health said.
Case D is the Auckland student who tested positive last week and Case E is a neighbour who lives in the same building on Vincent Street in Auckland's CBD.
"While we know Case A and Case D have an identical genome, and that means Case D most likely caught Covid-19 from Case A, despite extensive investigation we have not yet been able to identify the exposure event that links these two people epidemiologically," the ministry said.
"Auckland Regional Public Health Service continues to pursue every possible angle on this source investigation."
After more than 15,000 Aucklanders flooded to testing stations over the weekend, questions still remain how an inner-city resident contracted the infection from a Defence Force worker stationed at a quarantine facility.
The active cases include some from the November Defence Force cluster that saw the virus breach the border and spread into the community. To date, five people have tested positive in the genomically linked group.
Yesterday proved a significant day in the country's Covid response, with the Government announcing that from Thursday, all people in Auckland would be required to wear face masks on public transport and the public in general must wear masks on domestic flights.
