Covid-19: One new MIQ case, remaining close contacts of community case all negative
Torika Tokalau
There is one new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation, a week after the most recent community outbreak was announced in Auckland.
The new case arrived in New Zealand from Singapore on February 16 and tested positive after their routine day 3 test. One previously reported case has been reclassified as under investigation, meaning the number of active cases remains at 51.
The Ministry of Health also confirmed all close contacts associated with the Auckland family of three at the centre of the latest community outbreak had returned negative tests.
These include those linked to the school and travel group to New Plymouth.
The last cases detected in the community were on Friday, taking the total linked to the cluster involving a daughter, mother and father, to seven.
Papatoetoe High School
As at 8am on Sunday, a total of 31 close contacts and 1,413 casual plus contacts had been identified at Papatoetoe High School.
Twenty five health professionals were the first in the country to be vaccinated on Friday, before they administered the vaccines.
The number of casual plus contacts has again decreased due to some people not being at school at the time of exposure, the ministry said.
Of the casual plus contacts, that include the wider student and staff school population, 1,395 have returned negative results, with one positive (Case E, who is a classmate of the original case), and 17 results still to come in.
One negative result, reported on Saturday has been removed from the tally as that person is no longer considered a casual plus contact.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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