27 Jul 2020

Person who travelled from NZ to South Korea tests positive for Covid-19

2:14 pm on 27 July 2020

The Ministry of Health is seeking more information after a person who last week travelled from New Zealand tested positive for Covid-19 in South Korea.

No caption

Photo: 123RF

The Korean Centres of Disease Control and Prevention initially presumed the person caught the virus while in New Zealand.

However, the New Zealand Ministry of Health later said that South Korean authorities believed the person had contracted the disease during transit at a Singapore airport.

The case is still being investigated and the ministry said it expected to have more information later today.

See all RNZ coverage of Covid-19

The person left New Zealand on 21 July and was one of 13 new imported cases in South Korea on Friday, of which three were tested on arrival, and the others while in mandatory self-isolation.

Earlier this month a traveller from New Zealand to Malaysia who was initially suspected to have Covid-19 laterreturned a negative test.

The Ministry of Health said the result had been due to a rapid antigen test, used for quick screening, which is not as accurate as the PCR test used in New Zealand.

The person subsequently tested negative on a PCR test.

The person had been staying with family since January and had no known contact with Covid-19, a spokesperson said.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs