There are three new cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health confirmed on Sunday.
Two of the cases are imported and were detected in managed isolation facilities, and one is linked to Case D, the Auckland woman at the centre of the country's latest COVID-19 scare.
The first imported case arrived from the UK on November 10 via Qatar and Australia. The individual tested positive due to routine testing at around day three of their stay in Hamilton, and is now being transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility, the Jet Park.
The second case arrived from Dubai on November 10 and was also detected due to testing at around day three. This person has now been transferred to Auckland's quarantine facility.
The ministry has also confirmed that a close contact of Case D has tested positive for the virus. The case, who has been at Auckland’s quarantine facility since November 12, was considered under investigation on Saturday.
This individual's initial test result was negative, and a subsequent test returned a weak positive. A third test taken on Saturday is now confirmed as positive. These test results indicate that this new case is a very recent infection.
Auckland Regional Public Health has identified seven close contacts and three casual contacts. All have been contacted and testing arranged.
Testing for all 10 contacts is expected to be completed by the end of the day. There are no places of interest identified to date for this latest case.
Genome sequencing earlier this week found that Case D shared an identical genomic link to a New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) worker who had tested positive.
The sequencing indicates it's highly likely the woman contracted the disease from the worker - known as Case A - who had been working at the Jet Park when he became infected.
It's not yet clear how the woman contracted COVID-19 from Case A, but health officials are investigating.
