Covid-19: No new cases to in NZ today

1:27 pm on 28 September 2020

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

Coronavirus particles, illustration. Different strains of coronavirus are responsible for diseases such as the common cold, gastroenteritis and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

Photo: AFP

In a statement, the Ministry of Health says there were 18 people isolating in the Auckland quarantine facility from the community, which includes nine people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and their household contacts.

It says one person is in hospital with Covid-19 at Middlemore. The patient is in isolation on a general ward.

There was no 1pm news conference today.

The Ministry says Public health services continue to contact trace, test and isolate close contacts of the three community cases reported this week.

"There are now a total of 44 close contacts associated with these cases. All are now self-isolating. All but two have returned negative test results and the remaining two results are pending."

The Ministry says since 11 August, the contact tracing team has identified 4,075 close contacts of cases, of which 4,072 have been contacted and are self-isolating or have completed self-isolation. "We are in the process of contacting the rest."

The total number of active cases is 55; of those, 28 are imported cases in managed isolation and quarantine facilities, and 27 are community cases.

The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is 1,477.

Yesterday there were 3,539 tests processed, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 951,954.

"Lower testing figures on Saturdays and Sundays are not unusual, however this is a good reminder that we can't afford to be complacent," says the Ministry.

It reminded people to:

Stay home if you're unwell, call Healthline or your GP and get a test
Maintain good hygiene practices
Sign into places, using the NZ Covid Tracer app or keep a record

"All these measures will be particularly important during the school holidays as New Zealanders increasingly travel around the country."

There are now 2,281,100 users registered on the NZ Covid Tracer app.

On Sunday two new cases of Covid-19 were reported in New Zealand, both in managed isolation.

In Australia, five new cases were and three deaths were reported in Victoria today. It comes as Melbourne moves to the second step of Victoria's roadmap out of lockdown. About 127,000 people will return to work from today as restrictions are eased on a number of workplaces.