There are five new cases of coronavirus in New Zealand - but there remains no evidence of community transmission despite a COVID-19 scare in Wellington last month.
Each of the new cases were detected at the border or in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities, the Ministry of Health revealed in their latest update on Wednesday afternoon.
Of the five, two are the mariners off the coast of Taranaki who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and are currently isolating on a vessel at sea, the Ministry of Health says.
The mariners are part of a group of nine who arrived in Auckland on Monday before being transferred onto a deep-sea fishing vessel in New Plymouth. All nine returned a negative COVID-19 pre-departure test before travelling to New Zealand.
The mariners arrived on a red flight so all other passengers are in MIQ, and the other seven mariners on the vessel have all tested negative, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Wednesday.
The vessel is headed back to the Port of Taranaki and all crew - the two mariners and 13 other crew - will be placed in MIQ facilities while whole genome sequencing is carried out to determine what variant the two mariners are carrying.
"The Ministry of Health and the Ministry for Primary Industries are working closely with the shipping company to ensure the ongoing health of those aboard," a statement reads.
"Health officials continue to regard this situation as low risk to public health due to the infection prevention control process in place. There remains no associated locations of interest."
All three close contacts of the two infected mariners - a bus driver, a port pilot and a customs officer - are fully vaccinated and were wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) during their interactions.
The bus driver was wearing an N95 mask for the duration of the trip from Auckland to New Plymouth and is in a MIQ facility in Auckland. The other two workers are self-isolating and are awaiting testing.
Dr Bloomfield says there was one scheduled toilet stop at a dedicated facility in Hamilton during the trip - but says the facility is only used by those transitting to ports or MIQ facilities in Rotorua. He adds members of the public can't use it and it's deep-cleaned regularly.
The other three COVID-19 cases caught at the border are all at Auckland quarantine facility the Jet Park Hotel.
One arrived from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on June 23, another from Malaysia via Singapore on June 26, and the third direct from the UAE on July 2.
The number of active cases in New Zealand is 40, with the total number of cases detected here since the beginning of the pandemic now standing at 2407.
On Tuesday, another 7254 tests were processed across the country. The total number of COVID-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,329,483.
