New Zealand records Fresh cases of COVID19

[jakeseven7]

Apart from those (hotel quarantine - genomic testing does not work on all past samples as sometimes the virus cannot be grown) and surfaces in freight (highly unlikely):

• Air crew, including on airfreighters
• Crews on merchant ships
• Staff at airports and seaports who contact the above
• Drugrunners

Honestly probably not worth the time and money trying to work it out, just assume it’s everywhere and carry on as safely as you can. What are they going to do about it anyway.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Honestly probably not worth the time and money trying to work it out, just assume it’s everywhere and carry on as safely as you can. What are they going to do about it anyway.

Fully agree.

You of course need look when it comes in again, do the genomic testing to see if you work it out. But main priority is to stamp it out locally, and then carry until it re-emerges again. Rinse and repeat.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

One wonders if it was not for the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship group being involved in the cases, whether the virus would have ceased in NZ by now.


2 new cases of COVID-19
Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
12 September 2020

There are two new community cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

Both new cases have an epidemiological link to an existing case and they are both associated with the bereavement events sub-cluster that is epidemiologically linked to the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship group.

One of the cases is a student at Sunnyvale School in Henderson. They were not infectious when they last attended school and Auckland Regional Public Health Service has not identified any close contacts among the school community. The school remains open and safe for students and staff to attend.

There remain 33 cases in the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship group and there are now 15 cases in the bereavement events group, which includes the cases whose source of infection was the bereavement events.

Leaders of the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship have actively encouraged all members of the congregation to get retested for COVID-19 and comply with other public health advice such as self-isolation.

As a result of this, at 8am this morning our laboratories had registered new tests for 98 per cent of the congregation.

We want to thank them again for their participation in contributing to our efforts to control the wider Auckland cluster.

There are now 63 people linked to the community cluster who remain in the Auckland quarantine facility, which includes 47 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their household contacts.

Since August 11, our contact tracing team has identified 3,647 close contacts of cases, of which 3,640 have been contacted and are self-isolating, and we are in the process of contacting the rest.

Today there are three people in hospital with COVID-19 – one is in isolation on a ward in Auckland City Hospital. Two are in ICU, at North Shore and Waikato hospitals.

With today’s two new cases and eight additional recovered cases, our total number of active cases is 108. Of those, 38 are imported cases in MIQ facilities, and 70 are community cases.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Notable today is that a health worker who works in Auckland’s quarantine facility has tested positive.

(My bolding below)

2 new cases of COVID-19
Media release from NZ Ministry of Health
13 September 2020

There are two new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today; the first is a returnee to New Zealand in managed isolation and the second a health worker who works in Auckland’s quarantine facility.

The returnee in managed isolation arrived from South Africa on 8 September and remains in quarantine in Canterbury.

The other new case is a health worker who works at Auckland’s quarantine facility Jet Park managing people in quarantine after they test positive for COVID-19.

Five household contacts are in isolation at their home and are being tested today.

This case is still being investigated to determine if the infection came from the community or from within the quarantine facility, though at this stage no obvious links to other cases in the community have been established.

Thorough tracing of which people in quarantine the health worker had contact with is being undertaken, as is genome testing to see what strain of the virus the health worker has to help identify the source.

This case, which was found from routine weekly testing, demonstrates the value of the regular testing of all staff.

The health worker was tested last week and returned a negative test, so has picked up the virus in between the weekly tests which are done as part of the regular testing of people working in the quarantine facility.

The results of genomic testing are expected tomorrow and will help to inform the investigation.

This is the first time a staff member at Jet Park has tested positive for COVID-19 in five-and-a-half months of operation. In that time the facility has managed 2532 individuals and their close contacts, who have been transferred from the border, from other managed isolation facilities and the community.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Today's update. My bolding below.

1 new case of COVID-19
Media release from NZ's Ministry of Health
14 September 2020

There is one new community case of COVID-19 to report today.

The case is a female child who is epidemiologically linked to an existing case associated with the Botany sub-cluster which has been genomically linked to the Auckland cluster.

The child has been in isolation since August 30 due to being a household contact of a confirmed case.

The case of the healthcare worker from the Auckland quarantine facility who was reported yesterday has been genomically sequenced by ESR. The case is genomically linked to three cases that have been in the quarantine facility that are linked to the Auckland cluster. This reinforces exposure at Jet Park being the most likely route of transmission, but the Public Health Unit continues to investigate exactly how the infection occurred.

The healthcare worker has five household contacts, and all have returned a negative test result. As close contacts they will remain in self-isolation for the full 14-day period and will be retested twice.

Nine staff from the quarantine facility have been identified as close contacts, tested, and all have returned a negative result. They will also remain in self-isolation for the full 14-day period and will be retested.

 

[OZDUCK]

They do seem to believe that they are getting on top of this outbreak

New Zealand to lift coronavirus restrictions in most of country on September 21

New Zealand will lift coronavirus restrictions across the country on September 21, except in its biggest city, Auckland, which is the epicentre of a second wave of infections.

www.abc.net.au

 

[lovetravellingoz]

They do seem to believe that they are getting on top of this outbreak

New Zealand to lift coronavirus restrictions in most of country on September 21

New Zealand will lift coronavirus restrictions across the country on September 21, except in its biggest city, Auckland, which is the epicentre of a second wave of infections.

www.abc.net.au

Well new cases outside of those in quarantine and quarantine workers is now very low, and basically all within known groups. So yes they do seem to have it under control. It will be interesting to see if they just move to focusing on those locations and free up everyone else.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Importantly there there were no new community cases reported in today's update!

3 new imported cases of COVID-19​

Media release
15 September 2020

There are three new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today – all detected in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities. There are no new community cases.

The three cases are a man in his 30s and two children who arrived together from Dubai on September 9. They have been in managed isolation at the Ibis Hotel in Rotorua and tested positive for COVID-19 during routine testing around day 3 of their stay.

There are 56 people linked to the community cluster who remain in the Auckland quarantine facility, which includes 26 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their household contacts.​

 

[lovetravellingoz]

No new community cases today (second day in a row). Unfortunately one death though.

One case in quarantine.


Media release from MZ Ministry of Health
16 September 2020

There is one new case of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today, detected in a recent returnee in a managed isolation facility. There are no new community cases.

Today’s new case is a woman in her 30s who arrived from Dubai on September 9, who is related to the three cases reported yesterday.

We are today reporting the death of a man who had COVID-19. The man was in his 50s and was a confirmed case of COVID-19 linked to the Auckland cluster. The man was admitted to Waikato Hospital on August 19 and was transferred to ICU on August 26. Sadly, he passed away yesterday afternoon.

The man’s whanau has asked us to tell the country that “coronavirus is so real”, and to be very vigilant and cautious. They have issued a plea to all New Zealanders: “if you are sick and have symptoms, stay home”.

This man’s death again emphasises the seriousness of the virus and the consequences it can have. There have now been 25 COVID-19 related deaths in New Zealand.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Zero unknown or known community cases again in NZ in today's update.


Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
17 September 2020

There are seven new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today, all detected in recent returnees in a managed isolation facility.

There are no new community cases.

With the exception of one arrival from Uzbekistan, all new cases were detected as a result of day 3 testing and are now in quarantine. They are:

• a woman in her 30s who arrived from the United States on 12 September and was in managed isolation in Wellington
• a man in his 60s who arrived from India on 12 September and was in managed isolation in Hamilton
• a man in his 30s who arrived from India on 12 September and was in managed isolation in Hamilton
• a woman in her 20s who arrived from India on 12 September and was in managed isolation in Hamilton
• a man in his 40s who arrived from Indonesia on 12 September and was in managed isolation in Christchurch
• a child aged between 1 and 4 years who arrived from India on 12 September and was in managed isolation in Hamilton
• a woman in her 50s who arrived from Uzbekistan on 14 September. She was tested in Hamilton after appearing symptomatic.

Today there are four people in hospital with COVID-19 – one each at Auckland City and North Shore hospitals and two in Middlemore. All are in isolation on a ward. There are no cases in ICU.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
18 September 2020

There are no new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Accounting of today’s statistics to 9:00am NZ time (edited table released at about 4pm NZ time), the total outbreak is 181 (including 1 maintenance worker and 1 healthcare worker linked to managed quarantine facility), seemingly all connected, for the period 11/8-19/9
- 34 still active
- 144 recovered
- 3 deaths.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

After a run of zeros, another single community case has occurred.


2 new cases of COVID-19
Media release by NZ Minisyry of Health
19 September 2020
There are two new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today; the first has been detected in a recent returnee in a managed isolation facility and the second is a community case.

The source of the community case is still being investigated.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

NZ reports 4 today.

Oh dear, apparently yesterday’s community case was a male overseas returnee who completed the entire quarantine (Including 2 negative tests) and infected 2 more of his household, which are reported today.

Plus 2 more reported from quarantine.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

So it’s possible to first show symptoms 20/21 days later....from NZ Health media release today

The case reported yesterday was tested after developing symptoms on September 16, and returned a positive result. He and his household contacts self-isolated when he developed symptoms. They were all moved into the Auckland quarantine facility on September 18, when the first case returned a positive result.

All identified close contacts have been isolated and tested.

The source of the case’s infection is still under investigation, but genome sequencing is consistent with two confirmed cases from the same flight from India to New Zealand that landed on August 27.

It is possible that this case was infected during that flight and has had an extremely long incubation period – there is evidence that in rare instances the incubation period can be up to 24 days. This person developed symptoms 21 days after he arrived in New Zealand. If this is the case, it sits well outside the standard incubation period of the virus.

The vast majority of people who are infected with COVID-19 will become unwell within 14 days. Having returnees stay in managed isolation for 14 days remains the gold standard, and this is also the approach adopted by other countries. Our own modelling confirms that 14 days spent in managed isolation with two tests leaves a very low risk that someone will leave managed isolation with COVID-19.

Another possible scenario is that the case may have been infected during the flight from Christchurch to Auckland – other passengers from that flight are currently being contacted and assessed as a precautionary measure in order to exclude them as the source of infection.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

So it’s possible to first show symptoms 20/21 days later....from NZ Health media release today

Yes, and there have been reports of that in the past. But this the first case that I can recall where someone who has served the full 14 day quarantine has transmitted the virus after that when they were not symptomatic during the 14 days. One might speculate if they had mild symptoms within the 14 days but dot not report them as that would have resulted in a longer quarantine, or perhaps they just had not noticed them if they were mild.


The two community cases are household contacts of the case reported yesterday, which is not connected to the Auckland cluster. The case reported yesterday is a recent returnee who arrived in New Zealand from India on August 27 and completed managed isolation, returning two negative tests at the facility in Christchurch before returning home to Auckland on September 11

So these three cases will be interesting to monitor. Apart from the theories in the NZ Ministry of Health Media Release, above he may have been infected exiting quarantine, or during quarantine. Though but genome sequencing is consistent with two confirmed cases from the same flight from India to New Zealand that landed on August 27 would suggest that he may have been infected when the quarantine started.





The first imported case reported today is a man in his 30s who arrived from London via Dubai on September 16. He tested positive at routine testing around day 3 of his stay in managed isolation at the Novotel Ellerslie, and is being transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility today.

The second imported case reported today is a man in his 20s who arrived from India via Singapore on September 12. He returned a negative test for COVID-19 around day 3 of his stay in managed isolation at the Grand Millennium. The man was moved to the Auckland quarantine facility as a close contact of a confirmed case, retested, and has returned a positive result.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

PS.

So the NZ Quarantine process has now had multiple failures (personally I believe this is just going to happen, just as you see positive cases in hospital settings, and every now and again you will have a rare outlier such as this case may have been.). The early ones including positive quarantine cases leaving quarantine fortunately infect did not infect anyone.

The last three failures have had two positive cases outside of those quarantined and now two transmissions to close outside of those in quarantine.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

A bit harsh at this point to call the most recent positive yesterday outside of quarantine a failure. It was the accepted low risk of the gold standard in quarantine.

The second case ie the healthcare worker is probably a failure of infection control.

The first case outside of quarantine the maintenance worker who was not in contact with anyone is also a bit vague to be firmly a failure, but I guess infected because of surface contact or poor ventilation or something like that.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

A bit harsh at this point to call the most recent positive yesterday outside of quarantine a failure. It was the accepted low risk of the gold standard in quarantine.

I think we are actually 100% in agreement, it is just that I use the word failure differently than you do.


Note that I said: (personally I believe this is just going to happen, just as you see positive cases in hospital settings, and every now and again you will have a rare outlier such as this case may have been.)

Any system including quarantine will often have many components. What went wrong in this case is not yet known. It may be that 14 days in this case was not enough for how long the person was contagious for (This does not mean you have to extend all quarantine around the world due to one outlier. It may have beena breach within the 14 days, or on exit. Or less likely (due the genomes seeming to match those on their flight to NZ) after they left quarantine.

I will note that failure is with my way of thinking as an engineer expected as nothing is perfect, and also to never have a failure would often mean an unacceptable cost is being occurred.
ie

• To control floods up you might design for what occurs in 1:100 years but not say 1:1000
• A part may be designed for 10,000 repetitions
• A heart pump to last 10 years.
• A vaccine to work for 70% of people

If quarantine is failing to prevent all but rare transmissions then it is working ok in my opinion. That is the quarantine system is not failing, just because there are some failures to prevent transmission.

Systems are not designed for no risk, they are designed for an acceptable level of risk. What will be acceptable will depend on the consequences of failure.

What NZ and NSW have both shown is that the presence of the ADF or police do not in themselves guarantee that quarantine will be 100% failure free. This does not mean that NZ and NSW quarantine have not been effective, as I would view both as having been effective as the failures have been rare. The Vic Hotel Quarantine System was clearly a failure, and I suspect that there were several layers to this.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Zero cases in the last 24 hours in NZ.


NZ Ministry of Health Update