Covid 19 coronavirus: Ministry of Health officials will this afternoon reveal the latest Covid-19 numbers

Ministry of Health officials will this afternoon provide a Covid-19 case number update, as well as potentially revealing if there are any more cases of the new, more contagious strain in MIQ facilities.

That strain continues to ravage the UK and a number of other countries.

That variant has already been detected in New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities since the most recent outbreak in the UK.

Figures from the Ministry of Health reveal positive Covid-19 numbers have almost doubled in New Zealand recently.

Some 99 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in managed isolation in the first 17 days this year, compared with 54 positive tests in the last 17 days of 2020.

They were all detected in managed isolation or quarantine. The most recent case of community transmission was November 18.

Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins this morning told Newstalk ZB that he was expecting the 100,000th person to come through New Zealand MIQs this week.

“But we have seen 600-odd positive cases coming through,” he said.

He also talked up the effectiveness of the isolation system.

“You’re never going to have something that is 100 per cent full-proof but you can get pretty damn close and I think we are pretty damn close now.”

Yesterday, the ministry revealed there were 10 new cases in MIQ centres since Friday.
Eight of the new cases were in Auckland, and one was in Christchurch.

One was a historical, non-infectious, case involving a person who travelled from Pakistan via the United Arab Emirates on September 5.

They completed managed isolation and returned two negative test results in September but were recently retested as a pre-travel requirement.

That test returned a weak positive result, indicative of historical infection.

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