COVID-19: No new community cases, 17 in managed isolation

COVID-19: No new community cases, 17 in managed isolation
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There are no new community cases of COVID-19 and 17 in managed isolation facilities, the Ministry of Health confirmed on Tuesday.

The new border-related cases have been detected since the Ministry's last update on Sunday.

An additional four COVID-19 cases have recovered, so New Zealand's total number of active cases is 74.

There have been 2168 confirmed cases so far.

The Ministry of Health has released the following information regarding the 17 new border cases:

COVID-19: No new community cases, 17 in managed isolation

Of the 17 new MIQ cases, 12 involve travellers from India via the UAE, who arrived in New Zealand between March 30 and April 3.

A Ministry spokesperson said the cases showed the value of testing travellers in managed isolation and quarantine facilities upon arrival.

"Today's managed isolation case numbers underscore the value of having in place the day 0/1 testing as 13 out of the 17 cases were identified with this testing. All people arriving in New Zealand must remain in their rooms until those day 0/1 test results come back."

They assured that while the 17 cases announced may be higher than normal, the average number of cases per day over the past week remains steady at four. 

"Some of these cases are also contacts of known cases."

In regards to testing, 4084 tests were processed in the past two days - 1848 on Sunday and 2236 on Monday.

A total of 26,705 tests have been processed in the past seven days, and the total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,917,574.

"Lower testing numbers were always expected over the long weekend as New Zealanders made the most of the extra time with friends and whânau and the freedom of movement we currently enjoy."