13 Aug 2021

Covid-19 update: One new case in managed isolation, none in community

1:33 pm on 13 August 2021

There is one new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation and quarantine and no new cases in the community, the Ministry of Health says.

Medical staff member with mask and protective equipment holds Coronavirus nasal swabs test tubes at drive-through testing point in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus)

Photo: 123RF

In a statement, the ministry said no previously reported cases have recovered since yesterday's update.

The number of active cases in New Zealand is 44 and the total number of confirmed cases is 2558.

Since 1 January 2021, there have been 117 historical cases, out of a total of 740 cases.

And the seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is five.

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Photo: Ministry of Health

There were 6060 Covid-19 tests processed across New Zealand yesterday.

Yesterday the ministry announced that there were eight new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation, including two who arrived from Japan earlier this week.

Update on container ships

On the Rio de la Plata, the ministry said a total of 73 people went aboard the vessel between Wednesday 4 August to Saturday 7 August.

"All workers at the Port of Tauranga, who were associated in some way to the Rio De La Plata container ship, have now returned at least one negative test," it said.

"Additional testing has been required for a number of port workers. The last three test results reported yesterday as outstanding are now all returned and are negative.

"Wastewater testing has been carried out in Tauranga and Mt Maunganui. Two 24-hour composite samples collected on Monday 9 August to Tuesday 10 August did not detect the Covid-19 virus. Additional samples were collected on 11 August, with the results expected later today."

The ministry said this would be the last planned update on the ship.

It said the Mattina container ship remains in quarantine in Bluff.

As of Friday morning, 13 of the original 21 mariners remain on board the vessel.

Vaccine update

More than 2.39 million doses of the vaccine have been administered to date (to 11.59pm on 12 August), the ministry said.

Of these, 1.51 million are first doses and 882,756 are second doses.

"More than 132,000 Māori have received their first vaccination. Of these, nearly 82,000 have also received their second vaccination.

"Yesterday, 48,612 vaccine doses were administered, a further record on Wednesday's total number of vaccine doses administered."

Yesterday's total included 32,150 first doses and 16,462 second doses.

Yesterday, the government also made three key announcements:

  • The country will begin a gradual re-opening of its border from the first quarter of 2022 with travel from other countries to be graded as high, medium or low risk
  • The government will begin trialling self-isolation instead of MIQ for vaccinated people from October limited to applicants needing to travel for business
  • The vaccination programme is being sped up with bookings open to all age-groups from 1 September and the gap between first and second doses moved to six weeks instead of three weeks.

All the decisions outlined yesterday were in response to the Skegg report on reconnecting New Zealand with the rest of the world.

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