Coronavirus: Update on COVID-19 in Taranaki wastewater as zero new border cases recorded

Coronavirus: Update on COVID-19 in Taranaki wastewater as zero new border cases recorded
Photo credit: Getty Images

There are no new coronavirus cases at New Zealand's border or in the community.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, the Ministry of Health also revealed there have been no positive COVID-19 tests in New Plymouth after the virus was detected in Taranaki's wastewater.

"All test results currently processed for New Plymouth from Friday, Saturday and some of Sunday are negative," the ministry said.

"A total of 160 swabs were taken in New Plymouth yesterday. Around a quarter of these have been processed and returned negative results. There remain a number of results that are pending from swabs taken yesterday that are expected later today.

"A preliminary result, from an early wastewater sample taken for around two thirds of the usual 24 hour sampling time, has come back with no further COVID-19 detected."

Results from other wastewater samples taken over a wider area in Taranaki are expected on Tuesday.

The ministry is encouraging anyone in Taranaki who recently travelled from Australia or with symptoms to get a COVID-19 test. They say the positive results last week could signal recovering cases are still shedding the virus, or that there's undetected community transmission.

On Monday another three historical cases were announced: one who travelled to Auckland from the Philippines via Australia and two who flew to Christchurch from Uzbekistan via the United Arab Emirates. They were each in managed isolation facilities.

Five previously reported cases also recovered, taking the number of active cases to 54. The total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand now stands at 2507.