There are no new cases of COVID-19 to report in the community in New Zealand today.

There is one new case to report in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities since the Ministry’s last update yesterday.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is two.

One previously reported case has now recovered.

Since 1 January 2021, there have been 67 historical cases, out of a total of 510 cases.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 17.

Our total number of confirmed cases is 2,326. 

Melbourne 

All 177 passengers from the two additional flights we released information about yesterday have either returned to Australia or been contacted, advised to get a test and isolate

These additional 177 people were identified after a detailed look back to confirm all Quarantine Free Travel flights that had arrived during the period 20-25 May had been included in the testing and isolation requirements.

The original cohort of travellers from Melbourne now sits at 4,767. It has changed since yesterday and may continue to fluctuate as we continue to receive additional information.

Of those 4,767 travellers, we know that 93 per cent of travellers have either already been tested or are exempt from testing:

·         2,876 have returned a negative test result
·         205 are exempt from testing because they are under the age of 12 (eight children have been tested since yesterday)
·         1,286 require no further action as they have returned to Australia (this is lower than yesterday, as six people have since returned a negative test)
·         400 have no test result as yet.

We are continuing to follow up with the 400 people who still require tests, noting their 14 day period will lapse in the coming days.

Of 370 crew members, we know that:
·         237 have returned a negative test result; and
·         133 crew members have no result as yet.

Regular data reconciliation has identified 40 people who were not reported as being in the original cohort but are now included. These 40 people had already returned to Australia and their status in the original cohort was closed, and therefore not reported. As part of our regular reconciliation and tracking of cohort numbers the status of the 40 people is now reopened and is now being reported in our figures.

Air New Zealand contacts of positive case
The initial advice, provided to the Ministry and reported publicly yesterday, is that the two Air New Zealand staff who are casual contacts of a positive case, were in full PPE, and no further action was required.

We have subsequently been advised that the two staff were not wearing full PPE.  We have also been informed that they are both fully vaccinated, and both have returned a negative test result.  As an additional precaution the two staff will be remaining in isolation until they return a further negative test result at day five.

Testing information
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,159,702.

Yesterday 4,771 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average is 4,699.

For all testing locations nationwide visit the Healthpoint website.

This testing data does not include the number of tests processed by Waikato DHB, as systems remain down as a result of the cyber attack.  The Waikato data continues to be recorded manually and monitored.

NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,841,152 registered users.

Poster scans have reached 279,475,019 and users have created 10,537,756 manual diary entries.

There have been 569,745 scans in the last 24 hours to midday yesterday.

Queen’s Birthday weekend is traditionally the perfect long weekend for people to travel to see loved ones. It also presents the perfect opportunity for people to scan in wherever they go, using the NZCOVID Tracer App.

Please note there will be a message on the app this weekend, reminding users to continue scanning in.

Please scan QR codes to keep a private digital diary of where you’ve been.

It’s incredibly important that people keep a record of where they’ve been, especially while people are out and about this long weekend.

Scanning in can help support contact tracers in tracing potential close and casual contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19.  

If you’re already a regular app user: thank you. Your efforts are helping New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 and making contact tracing easier.

Next update
The Ministry’s next COVID-19 update will be on Sunday at 1pm.