{"id":104576,"date":"2021-01-18T00:10:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T00:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=104576"},"modified":"2021-01-18T00:10:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T00:10:35","slug":"covid-19-coronavirus-ministry-of-health-officials-will-this-afternoon-reveal-the-latest-covid-19-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/covid-19-coronavirus-ministry-of-health-officials-will-this-afternoon-reveal-the-latest-covid-19-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid 19 coronavirus: Ministry of Health officials will this afternoon reveal the latest Covid-19 numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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.<\/p>\n
That strain continues to ravage the UK and a number of other countries.<\/p>\n
That variant has already been detected in New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities since the most recent outbreak in the UK.<\/p>\n
Figures from the Ministry of Health reveal positive Covid-19 numbers have almost doubled in New Zealand recently.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They were all detected in managed isolation or quarantine. The most recent case of community transmission was November 18.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“But we have seen 600-odd positive cases coming through,” he said.<\/p>\n
He also talked up the effectiveness of the isolation system.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One was a historical, non-infectious, case involving a person who travelled from Pakistan via the United Arab Emirates on September 5.<\/p>\n
They completed managed isolation and returned two negative test results in September but were recently retested as a pre-travel requirement.<\/p>\n
That test returned a weak positive result, indicative of historical infection.<\/p>\n