There are no new community COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Health has revealed - though one new case was detected at the border.
It's now been days since two community cases - both workers at the Sudima Christchurch Airport facility, where a group of coronavirus-infected international mariners were staying - were detected in New Zealand.
All but one of the workers' close contacts - including 193 Sudima staff members - have been tested. They have all returned negative results, though one result is still outstanding.
Health officials say they are still investigating, but have now identified the likely source of the workers' infection - the international mariners they have been caring for, 31 of whom have tested positive for COVID-19.
"The genome of [the first worker infected] is B1.1.7 - of the international mariners who have tested positive for COVID-19, five are part of the B1.1.7 lineage," the ministry said in a statement.
"[Their] genome is an exact match with the genomes from these five mariners, indicating a high likelihood that one of these guests is the source of the health care worker’s infection.
"We are awaiting genome sequencing results for Case B."
The Ministry of Health says the workers wore full personal protective equipment (PPE), but the "tricky" virus thwarted it. It's in the midst of a full review to determine whether procedures could be improved to prevent infection in the future.
Health officials have assessed the risk of re-exposure to COVID-19 from the workers to the international mariners as being "extremely low". They're now working on an exit plan for the mariners, who are set to be transported directly to their respective ships.
The new imported case reported on Friday is in a managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facility. They arrived from Singapore on October 31 and has now been transferred to the Jet Park Hotel, Auckland's quarantine facility.
Another 24 previously reported cases have recovered in the last 24 hours, which sees the total number of active cases fall dramatically to 44.
The number of confirmed and probable cases in New Zealand since COVID-19 was first detected now stands at 1973.
