Three people have tested positive for COVID-19 at New Zealand's border in the past 48 hours.
The latest cases detected in managed isolation facilities come after an Air New Zealand crew member on Saturday was revealed as a positive case.
All three cases are now in Auckland's quarantine facility:
- Case 1 arrived in New Zealand on December 7 from the US. They tested positive during routine testing at about day five of their stay
- Case 2 arrived in New Zealand on November 30 from the US. They tested positive during routine testing at about day 12
- Case 3 arrived in New Zealand from the UK and tested positive on arrival
The Ministry of Health says a previously reported COVID-19 case has now recovered, bringing New Zealand's total active cases to 56.
"Our total number of confirmed cases is 1740," a Ministry spokesman said.
"Yesterday [Saturday] laboratories processed 4245 tests for COVID-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,341,978."
Meanwhile, the source of the Air NZ crew member's COVID-19 infection remains under investigation.
"The crew member arrived in New Zealand on December 9, on a flight from the US," the ministry spokesman said.
He said the crew member is now also in the Auckland quarantine facility and Air NZ has assured the ministry all required measures have been followed.
"Genome sequencing is yet to be finalised, however preliminary results show the genome is not closely matched to any New Zealand cases that have been sequenced, and comparison with international samples suggests it originated in the US.
"All other air crew on the flight have so far returned negative test results and will remain in isolation."
