There is one new case of Covid-19 in New Zealand's managed isolation facilities today, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
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Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield are providing a Covid-19 update.
Today's case is a child of two people who have both previously been reported as cases, Dr Bloomfield said.
He said they arrived in New Zealand from Italy on 4 July and are in the Commodore Hotel in Christchurch.
Bloomfield said he wishes them, and everyone else with Covid-19, a speedy recovery.
A further case has recovered, so the number of active cases remains at 27.
There is no one receiving hospital level care for Covid-19 in New Zealand.
Bloomfield said there was an increase in testing yesterday - 2899, of which 726 were in managed isolation facilities. There have now been 436,233 tests completed.
Bloomfield reiterated that there is no cost to get tested.
Discussing the Covid tracing app, Hipkins said there had been 11,000 new registrations overnight, and thanked everyone for spreading the word.
He reminded businesses they should have their QR code app.
"Great to see the increase in registrations yesterday, will be good to see that continue," Bloomfield added.
Bloomfield said the app is an adjunct to having a strong contact tracing system in place. He said the value of the app is to notify people rapidly.
On behalf of the minister in charge of quarantine and isolation facilities, Megan Woods, Hipkins said a fire alarm at a managed isolation facility yesterday was set off accidentally.
"Due to the large number of people evacuating from the three exits, there was a short time where social distancing couldn't be followed, but the risk is low."
He said people were wearing masks, as they were required to do so outside their rooms.
There has been no positive test at the Rydges, the facility, for four weeks, he said.
Hipkins said the testing regime of staff at managed isolation facilities would be ramped up.
Bloomfield said he was aware of one case where a person recovered and was in the community but later tested positive. It was assessed as being a positive result because of residual virus.
He said the longest someone had stayed in a facility is around 28 to 30 days. Normally, longer stays were due to family members getting infected and resetting their time period.
Earlier today, economist Rodney Jones who has been modelling Covid-19 cases says people should enjoy the freedoms of alert level 1 because they may not last.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern laid out Cabinet's plan in case of a Covid-19 outbreak.
Globally, infections stand at 13.5 million and more than 580,000 deaths. Nearly 7.2m people have recovered. The countries with the most number of cases are US, Brazil, India, Russia, Peru and UK, according to a Reuters tally.
