There is one historical case of Covid-19 in managed isolation in New Zealand today, the Ministry of Health says.
Photo: 123rf.com
In a statement, the ministry said the case arrived from the USA on 8 February and tested positive around day 0 of routine testing.
The person is in a managed isolation facility in Christchurch.
There are no new cases in the community.
The ministry also said that five previously reported cases had now recovered. One previously reported case has been reclassified as under investigation.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand is now 54. The total number of confirmed cases is 1968.
Yesterday there were 5740 Covid-19 tests processed. The total number of tests processed to date is 1,573,692.
The ministry said historical cases would now be included in the daily Covid updates.
"This is because there is an increasing number of people becoming infected and recovering before travelling to New Zealand. Our testing may detect residual viral material on people's swabs, but it's important to reiterate they are no longer considered to be infectious."
The ministry said since 1 January there had been 26 historical cases, out of a total of 158 cases - all of them had been reported.
Yesterday there were three new cases of Covid-19 reported in managed isolation.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced yesterday that the government had formally approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use in New Zealand.
In today's statement, the ministry said there's ongoing interest around who was able to receive the vaccine.
"Patients receiving the following therapies should get advice from their specialist before receiving the Pfizer mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. This includes those receiving pembrolizumab (Keytruda), nivolumab (Opdivo), ipilimumab (Yervoy), atezolizumab (Tecentriq)."
The Pfizer mRNA Covid-19 vaccine was also suitable for use in immunocompromised individuals, it said.
The Covid Tracer app now has 2,563,440 registered users.
See RNZ's full coverage of Covid-19
- If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP - don't show up at a medical centre
