The Ministry of Health has revealed an Air New Zealand worker in China is now a confirmed case of coronavirus, in a press release revealing there are eight new imported cases of COVID-19.
The new cases were all detected in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities, health officials say, with no new cases infected through community transmission.
Five are from the same family, and arrived in New Zealand from Mexico via the US on November 19. They tested positive on about day three of their stay.
The other three cases also arrived on November 19 and tested positive on about day three. One came from Finland via Sweden and Qatar, one from Canada via Hong Kong and the other direct from the US.
Following two additional recoveries on Wednesday, there are now 59 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand - four in the community and 55 at the border.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases now stands at 2039.
On Tuesday, laboratories processed another 5779 tests for COVID-19, bringing the tests completed to date to 1,243,518.
New details released on Air NZ worker who tested positive
The Air New Zealand staffer's infection was reported on Monday. It's understood they tested negative for the virus in New Zealand on November 18, but returned a positive test upon arrival in Shanghai on November 22.
Further test samples were processed in Auckland and have returned a positive test, confirming that the staffer is a positive case of COVID-19. The ministry says its case numbers will reflect this on Thursday.
"A source investigation is underway and swabs have been sent to ESR in Wellington for genome sequencing, which is being done as quickly as possible," a spokesperson said.
"This person, seven close contacts and six casual contacts from the flight all arrived in New Zealand this morning and were all tested on arrival. This person and the close contacts are all in quarantine at our Auckland facility."
Some of the test results of these 11 people have been returned already, the ministry says, all of which have come back negative.
The ministry says it is treating this as though it's a confirmed case in New Zealand "out of an abundance of caution". Investigations into locations of interest visited by the crew member are ongoing.
On Wednesday morning, it was revealed the crew member visited the following locations before flying out:
Friday, November 20
- BP Connect, Coronation St, Mangere: 9:28am - 9:35am
- Resene, Mt Roskill: 11:45am - 12:15pm
- Countdown, Papatoetoe: 7:09pm - 7:22pm
- New World, Papatoetoe: 7:29pm - 7:43pm
Saturday, November 21
- Pharmacy, Countdown Greenlane: 12:34pm - 12:42pm
- Animates Manukau: 1:20pm - 2:11pm
The Ministry says anyone who visited a location of interest during the relevant time period and develops symptoms should self-isolate and get tested.
Meanwhile anyone who was at Animates Manukau at the same time, regardless of whether they have symptoms, has been advised to get a COVID-19 test.
Health officials say fewer than 10 people scanned into the pet store with their COVID Tracer app during this period.
