Three new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in New Zealand in the last 24 hours - but none are a result of community transmission.
The new COVID-19 cases are all in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities, the Ministry of Health revealed in a press release on Tuesday.
The trio includes a man in his 30s, and two children who arrived together in the country from Dubai last Wednesday, September 9. They are at Rotorua's Ibis Hotel, and all tested positive on about day three of their stay.
There have also been another 16 recoveries from COVID-19 in the last day, which sees the total number of active cases in New Zealand drop to 83 - of which 28 are in MIQ, and the other 55 in the community.
The number of people linked to the Auckland community cluster staying at the Jet Park Hotel, Auckland's quarantine facility, is now 56. This includes 26 people who tested positive, as well as their household contacts.
Four people are in hospital with the virus - two isolating on wards in Auckland City and Middlemore, and two in intensive care in North Shore and Waikato.
Since community coronavirus cases re-emerged in New Zealand on August 11, contact tracers have identified 3779 close contacts of cases.
All but seven have been contacted and told to self-isolate, and health officials are still trying to get in touch with them.
The combined number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in New Zealand now stands at 1801.
Meanwhile New Zealand's laboratories processed another 4402 tests on Monday, bringing the total number of tests completed to 872,444.
Health worker 'most likely' infected at MIQ facility
A healthcare worker at an Auckland quarantine facility was revealed to have been genomically linked to the Auckland community cluster on Monday.
This person attended three classes at a Les Mills gym while unknowingly infected, as well as visiting a Countdown supermarket and branch of The Warehouse on the North Shore.
The Ministry of Health now understands this person is most closely genomically related to three cases who had been staying in isolation at the same facility.
"This indicates that the worker was most likely exposed to the virus at the facility, however a clear epidemiological link to an existing case is still being determined," the ministry said.
The Public Health Unit's investigation into how this occurred is ongoing, as is a review into the facility's infection prevention and control processes.
Contacts from the gym classes the case attended are being assessed by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS).
There are as many as 94 close contacts from the three gym classes at Les Mills Takapuna, of which 72 have been confirmed as close contacts.
"Of these, 71 have been contacted and are self-isolating and we are in the process of contacting the remaining person," the ministry said. "Most have been tested already."
