COVID-19: No new community cases, 89 Melbourne arrivals still to be contacted

It's been confirmed 4626 people flew from Melbourne airport to New Zealand between May 20 and 25.
It's been confirmed 4626 people flew from Melbourne airport to New Zealand between May 20 and 25. Photo credit: Getty Images

There are two new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation (MIQ) and none in the community, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday.

The two new cases in MIQ in Auckland travelled from Lebanon and Saudi Arabia both with a stopover in UAE, one testing positive on day 10 and the other day zero. 

An update was also provided by the ministry on Victoria contact tracing efforts, confirming 4626 people flew from Melbourne airport to New Zealand between May 20-25, down from the initial estimate of 5000 travellers.

It's been revealed 89 travellers are still yet to be contacted: "All but 89 of the 4626 travellers have been contacted. Efforts are ongoing to contact these people to ensure they are isolating and being tested."

The Ministry said "slightly less than half" of the 4626 travellers from Melbourne have been tested and have returned a negative result. 

"Anyone who visited the Australian State of Victoria area between May 20-25 is required to isolate at their place of residence until they receive a negative COVID-19 test result."

Travellers are encouraged to contact Healthline on 0800 358 5453 if they need further advice.

It's been confirmed the variant of COVID-19 found in Melbourne is the B.1.617.1 variant which was first reported in India. It is considered to be more infectious than the original COVID-19 variant. 

"The Melbourne cluster reinforces the critical importance of everyone keeping a record of where they have been by scanning QR codes or keeping a manual diary of their movements," the Ministry added. 

The total number of tests processed by New Zealand laboratories to date is 2,137,414.

Laboratories processed 5484 tests on Saturday.