There have been five new cases in managed isolation reported in New Zealand today, with a border worker already in quarantine for the past two weeks also testing positive.
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In a statement, the Ministry of Health said the border worker was a close contact of one of the existing positive cases in the November quarantine cluster.
"This person was self-isolating at home from 7 November, and chose to transfer to managed isolation on 11 November."
They are now in the managed isolation facility in Wellington. The Ministry said all close contacts have been followed up, tested and returned negative results.
Results of genome sequencing are expected Monday.
Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles said the cases were looking "incredibly" well contained.
She said today's case showed the importance of close contacts being isolated, and the cluster seemed to be under control.
"It's all tracking very well and it's looking incredibly contained. There have been very few cases really, considering how many contacts all of the individuals have had. So it just again shows the importance of people going to get tested when they have symptom."
The five new imported cases include two people who arrived from Qatar on 17 November, one who arrived from Germany via Qatar and Australia on 10 November and two people who arrived from the United States on 14 November. They are all now in quarantine.
There are now 42 active cases of the coronavirus in this country and the total number of confirmed cases is now 1663.
There were 7014 tests processed yesterday.
"This level of testing as well as the prompt identification, tracing, testing and isolation of close contacts provides reassurance that this cluster is contained at this stage.
"The Ministry continues to encourage anyone who visited a location of interest during the relevant time period for the November cluster to get tested - to ensure we can quickly identify anyone who may have been infected.
"We have the best chance of staying ahead of Covid-19 if everyone who becomes unwell with cold or flu like symptoms stays at home and seeks a test quickly, and all New Zealanders are keeping track of where they've been and who they've seen."
There were three new cases reported yesterday, all in managed isolation.
