Three new cases of COVID-19 have been detected in New Zealand's managed isolation facilities (MIQ), the Ministry of Health confirmed on Wednesday.
There is no new evidence of community transmission and there are no active community cases of the virus in the country.
Of the three new imported cases, two are active and one is historical.
In addition to this, a suspected historical case has been detected in a crew member on the CTG Cobalt, which docked in the Port of Tauranga and is now en-route to Timaru. The tanker arrived in New Zealand waters on December 6 after departing Japan on November 19.
No crew members have come ashore, the ministry confirmed, meaning there is a "very low risk of transmission to the New Zealand community".
The crew member returned a weak positive COVID-19 test with a high CT value, indicating an old infection. The ministry says it's likely the crew member contracted COVID-19 some time ago. They are not presenting symptoms and are no longer considered infectious.
All other crew members have remained onboard the CTG Cobalt - effectively in isolation for the 17-day duration of their voyage - and have returned negative results.
However, no crew members will be permitted to leave the vessel until the current investigation by public health staff is concluded. The suspected historical case has not yet been added to New Zealand's official figures as it remains under investigation.
Health and port staff who had minimal contact with the crew have all been informed and no further action is deemed necessary at this stage.
Imported cases in MIQ
Of the two active cases detected at the border, one arrived on December 7 from a yet-to-be-identified country. The person tested positive on arrival and has been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility, the Jet Park.
The other arrived on December 3 from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates. They tested positive due to routine testing at around day three of their mandatory 14-day stay in managed isolation. They have also been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
The historical imported case arrived in New Zealand on December 2 from the United Kingdom via Singapore. This person tested positive at around day three of their stay, however further investigation indicated that the test had picked up an old infection and the person is now recovered. They are completing their isolation period at a Christchurch facility.
Two previously reported cases have now also recovered, bringing New Zealand's total number of active cases to 55. The total number of confirmed cases stands at 1732.
On Tuesday, laboratories processed 6397 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,321,598.
The NZ COVID Tracer app now has 2,396,500 registered users. QR code poster scans have now reached 135,441,911 and users have created 5,449,443 manual diary entries.
