No new community cases; 2 new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation
There are no new cases of COVID-19 to report in the community today.
There are two new cases to report in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities.
Ten previously reported cases have now recovered.
One case previously reported has been classified as “under investigation” following confirmation of a positive result in their home country.
This brings the total number of active cases in New Zealand today to 27.
Our total number of confirmed cases is now 2,254.
Testing information
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,008,199.
On Tuesday, 3,376 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 3,631 tests processed.
For testing locations in Auckland, visit Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS).
For all testing locations nationwide visit the Healthpoint website.
Vaccination update
A total of 172,564 people have received their first doses of the vaccine, an increase of 31,984 from last Wednesday’s figure of 140,580.
A total of 60,024 people have received a second dose and are now fully vaccinated.
In the past seven days to Tuesday 27 April 2021 we administered 47,981 vaccination doses to people. This is slightly higher than the 47,845 vaccinations administered in the previous seven days. Overall, DHBs are tracking slightly ahead of plan.
We are also adding to our stocks of the Pfizer vaccination. We have received around 685,620 doses into the country – enough to vaccinate more than 342,000 people with the two doses required for maximum protection.
We have received a total of 295 applications for access to early COVID-19 vaccines for travel reasons of compassionate grounds. 124 of these were approved, 107 have been declined and 64 are outstanding. We are asked for more information from 24 of the 64 outstanding applications.
We have also received 488 applications from Sport NZ, including Olympians and BLACKCAPs, and seven applications from MFAT for reasons of national significance.
Perth returnee
An update on the person who has recently flown from Australia to New Zealand, having been in Perth during the lockdown period there.
The individual flew from Perth to Sydney and then from Sydney to NZ.
The matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation, and there are a number of questions still to be answered about what has occurred in this situation. The answers to those questions will inform next steps in terms of any further enforcement action.
Any person who enters New Zealand who is ineligible for Quarantine-Free Travel is required to isolate for 14 days and is subject to penalties.
If a person is convicted of breaching the Quarantine-Free Travel requirements under the Air Border Order by not reporting to an MIQ when required, they could face a fine of up to $4,000 or six months imprisonment.
The risk to the New Zealand public from this person has been assessed to be very low.
This person’s account of their movements in Perth do not have them visiting any locations of interest identified by the Western Australian authorities.
While the public health risk has been assessed as low, it does serve as an important reminder that our response relies on accuracy and people fully complying with the safety measures that have been put in place by both countries.
The actions of one person could jeopardise Quarantine-Free Travel with Australia for everyone.
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,800,807 registered users.
Poster scans have reached 257,383,658 and users have created 9,633,404 manual diary entries.
There have been 656,554 scans in the last 24 hours to midday yesterday.
