No new cases of COVID-19 have been detected at the border nor in the community in the last 24 hours, following the shock infection of a Ports of Auckland worker over the weekend.
The Director-General of Health announced the news in a press conference from Ministry of Health headquarters in Wellington on Monday afternoon.
He described as "particularly pleasing", as it followed the testing of many of the man's close contacts - his one workplace contact, and two of his four household contacts.
The other two household contact's test results have not yet been processed.
Genome sequencing has revealed the man's infection is not of a type that's yet been seen in New Zealand, confirming it's not linked to the country's recent second outbreak.
The source of the man's infection is still being investigated, but Dr Bloomfield says the ministry believes he was likely infected while working on a ship in Auckland called the Sofrana Surville on October 12 and 13.
The nature of his work means he boards ships that have travelled from overseas and have international crew members.
The Sofrana Surville had travelled from Brisbane, Australia to Tauranga and then on to Auckland. Upon docking in Auckland, eight crew from the Philippines came onboard on October 13, while four others crew members left and flew home.
The community case had done some work on the ship while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), Dr Bloomfield says.
The Sofrana Surville has since been to Nouméa, New Caledonia and is now en route back to Brisbane. The ministry is in contact with health authorities across the Tasman and will be notified of test results once the ship docks in Australia.
As part of its investigation, the ministry is now carrying out testing on crew members of another ship that the case worked on prior to his time on the Sofrana Surville.
The ministry does not believe this ship is the source of the infection, as it only operates in New Zealand, but is undertaking testing as a precaution.
Dr Bloomfield says five previously reported cases have now recovered, which sees the total number of active cases drop to 37.
Another 1773 tests were completed on Sunday.
