New Zealand / Covid 19

Covid-19 update: Six new cases in managed isolation, none in community

13:17 pm on 9 April 2021

There have six new cases of Covid-19 reported in managed isolation today and none in the community.

Photo: 123rf.com

The Ministry of Health released the latest case numbers in a statement this afternoon and said five of the six new cases came from India.

The government has taken the unprecedented step of suspending all travel from India due to the surging rate of cases there. From Sunday, no-one can arrive here from India for 14 days - giving officials a chance to investigate ways to reduce the risk from a country where the coronavirus is rampant.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today said the pause offered a window to improve New Zealand's border safety programme, as it had become obvious pre-departure testing was not doing enough to bring down Covid-19 numbers in managed isolation facilities.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 95 and the total number of confirmed cases is 2205.

A new border-related Covid-19 case was reported in a worker at the Grand Millennium managed isolation facility yesterday.

The Ministry said today there were no new positive cases from contacts of this case.

"Ten close contacts have been identified. All have been contacted and are self isolating. Five have returned negative test results and we are awaiting further results."

The worker - who has been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility - returned a positive swab after being tested on Tuesday. A second test result yesterday was also positive.

The Ministry said investigations into the case were continuing.

"Auckland public health officials have carried out scoping interviews with the case to determine any locations of interest. At this stage, there are no locations of interest to report. If any locations of interest are identified, we will update the Ministry's website and send out push notifications."