Four new coronavirus infections have been recorded in New Zealand's managed isolation facilities since the last update on Tuesday, and two more cases of the infectious UK variant have been detected.
Of the new cases:
- One is historical. This person arrived on January 4 from the United Kingdom via Singapore. This person tested positive on day 0/1 of routine testing and is in a facility in Hamilton.
- One case arrived on January 5 from the United Kingdom via Qatar. This person tested positive on day 0/1 of routine testing and is in the Auckland quarantine facility.
- One case arrived on January 5 from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates and Australia. This person tested positive on day 0/1 of routine testing and is in the Auckland quarantine facility.
- One case arrived on December 29 from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia and tested positive at day nine. This person is in the Auckland quarantine facility.
A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said one previously reported COVID-19 case has since recovered, bringing New Zealand's total active infections to 62.
Overall, New Zealand labs have processed 1,426,787 coronavirus tests since the pandemic began.
The ministry said that following genomic testing, it has found two more cases of the UK variant.
"Both arrived from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia.
"This brings the total number of variant cases sequenced in New Zealand to eight."
Countries around the world have cut off travel links to the UK to stop the spread of the new variant, which scientists have said is between 40 and 70 percent more transmissible than the original virus.
COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced on Sunday that from January 15, all travellers from the UK will need to return a negative COVID-19 test prior to departure.
The Ministry of Health's next COVID-19 update will be on Sunday.
