WELLINGTON: New Zealand has reported its first coronavirus case outside of a quarantine facility in more than two months, though there was no instant proof the virus was spreading locally.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield mentioned the case was a 56-year-old lady who recently returned from Europe.
Like different returning travelers, she spent 14 days in quarantine and twice tested negative earlier than being returning home on Jan 13. She later developed symptoms and tested positive.
He mentioned health officers will conduct genome testing however are working under the assumption that the case is a more transmissible variant of the virus.
He mentioned they’re investigating to see whether it’s possible she caught the illness from another returning traveler who was staying in the same quarantine facility.
New Zealand, one of the successful developed nations in controlling the spread of the pandemic, finally recorded a community coronavirus transmission on Nov 18, based on info on the health ministry web site.
Bloomfield mentioned officers are ramping up contact tracing and testing efforts and hope to have extra details about the case within the coming days.
The nation has had only a total of 1,927 confirmed cases thus far, however with the pandemic raging globally, more individuals are returning to New Zealand with infections together with the new variants from the UK and South Africa, elevating issues the virus could spread in the community again.
On Sunday, there have been eight new infections, all returning travelers who’re being quarantined at the border, bringing the entire active cases amongst these quarantined to 79, the health ministry mentioned.
Stress has been mounting on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government to vaccinate the population, however, New Zealand has mentioned nearly all of its population would only be vaccinated within the second half of the yr.
