There are three new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation and none in the community today.
Photo: AFP
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said one of the new cases arrived in the country on 14 July from Serbia and Montenegro via the United Arab Emirates. The other two arrived on 16 July and 17 July - one via Singapore and one from Eritrea. All three are in a managed isolation facility in Auckland.
It also said the full travel histories of the two cases who arrived on 13 July and reported yesterday have now been obtained. One was from the United States and travelled via Qatar and Australia. The other case was from South Africa and travelled via Qatar and Australia.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that larger people with high body fat percentages need longer needles so their Covid-19 vaccinations make it deep into their muscle.
But there is no exact criteria in New Zealand saying who needs this and who doesn't - it's up to vaccinators decide.
Over the weekend there were 10 new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation and quarantine.
Playa Zahara update
The fishing ship Playa Zahara is now secured at a quarantine berth at Lyttelton Port within an exclusion zone not accessible by the public, the ministry said.
It said 13 of the crew of 18 were yesterday safely transferred to a managed isolation and quarantine facility in Christchurch, using standard Infection Prevention and Control measures including the use of appropriate PPE.
"Welfare and health checks will be conducted daily on the five crew members remaining aboard the ship and plans are in place should any of them become unwell. Customs will maintain a presence at the port while the Playa Zahara is berthed there.
"Whole genome sequencing has now been completed on samples from three further Covid-19 positive crew members. Along with the three reported on Friday, they have the Delta variant with no links to previously confirmed cases in New Zealand or to the Viking Bay. The remaining whole genome sequencing results are expected over the next few days."
The ministry said the two crew members who previously tested negative, tested negative again on arrival in Christchurch.
The numbers
The ministry said one previously reported case has now recovered, bringing the number of active cases in New Zealand to 47.
Since 1 January 2021, there have been 99 historical cases, out of a total of 644 cases.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is seven.
The total number of confirmed cases is 2461.
On Sunday, 3876 Covid-19 tests were processed across New Zealand.
The total number of tests processed to date is 2,401,725.
Travellers from Australia
The ministry said they were continuing to closely monitor the situation in Australia, particularly in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, where there has been a growing number of Covid-19 cases. Travel with NSW was paused on 22 June and with Victoria on 16 July.
It is encouraging anyone who was in Victoria since 8 July to keep checking the Victoria Health website for locations of interest which continue to be announced.
Anyone who was in Queensland since 28 June is encouraged to check the Queensland Health website for locations on interest.
"People who have been at these locations at the relevant time should immediately isolate at their home or appropriate accommodation and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing."
So far, contact tracing has identified 21 people in New Zealand who have been in locations of interest in the two states at the relevant time; 13 in Brisbane, two in wider Queensland and six in Melbourne, the ministry said.
Of those, 17 have had initial tests and returned negative results and the remaining four contacts are awaiting test results. Of the 21 contacts, three are isolating for 14 days and the remainder are isolating until they return a negative day five test.
Covid-19 world news
Fiji has reported 1043 new positive cases of Covid-19 for the last 24-hour period ending at 8am yesterday.
And across the ditch, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the results of New South Wales' tougher lockdown could take up to five days to become apparent.
Meanwhile in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak are self-isolating after contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who tested positive for coronavirus.