The Ministry of Health confirms three new community cases in South Auckland - one of whom works at Kmart in Botany and has been at work.
Some 31 staff of the shop are now considered close contacts.
The three new cases are siblings.
Earlier on Tuesday the Ministry announced one new case - another student at Papatoetoe High School. And now two siblings of this case have also tested positive.
After the Papatoetoe High school student had tested positive the Ministry said all 1500 students plus teachers are going to be required to get another test.
The school has been asked to close again until further notice as a precaution.
This was the second media release issued by the Health Ministry on Tuesday
The Ministry of Health was this afternoon notified that two siblings of today’s positive case from Papatoetoe High School have also tested positive for COVID-19.
The siblings are a teenager and an infant. The parents and a third older sibling have returned negative tests. The family has been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
Today’s initial case, a Papatoetoe High School student known as Case I, has not been at school. They are a casual plus contact of the initial case at Papatoetoe High School and had been advised to self-isolate and get tested.
The teenage sibling, known as Case J, recently finished school and has been working at Kmart Botany. Case J was at work on Friday 19 February and Saturday 20 February between 4pm and 10pm. Kmart Botany is regarded as a location of interest.
Therefore anyone who was at Kmart Botany, 500 Ti Rakau Drive, Botany Downs, at these times is considered a casual plus contact. If you are a casual plus contact, you are advised to immediately isolate at home and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on isolation timeframes and testing requirements.
Thirty-one staff at Kmart have already been identified as close contacts and are isolating and being provided with public health advice.
Other locations of interest for the three cases are continuing to be investigated and will be notified when available.
The infant, known as Case K, does not have childcare outside the home.
A testing centre was set up at the school early afternoon and 672 tests were done today. Testing will be available again at the school tomorrow. The school community has been requested to return to complete testing if they did not receive it today.
The Ministry is advising everyone in a Papatoetoe High School household must stay away from work or any other school, educational facility or community setting (e.g. the supermarket or any other place outside the home). The school remains closed and no students or staff will be able to return until advised by a Medical Officer of Health.
At this point, household members who are not students or staff do not need to be retested, unless they have symptoms or are asked to do so.
We will be providing updates on contact tracing tomorrow. Whole genome sequencing of Case I will be available tomorrow.
Earlier in the day Minister of Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield provided an update after the initial new positive test.
The student who tested positive was regarded only as a 'casual-plus' contact of the original cases at the school.
Bloomfield said she had not been at school when it re-opened on Monday, having been closed last week. He later said when directly asked that the student had not been at school because she was feeling symptomatic. She had not been tested previously.
She lives in a family bubble of six and has a sibling that also goes to Papatoetoe High School.
Genome sequencing testing was under way, though Bloomfield said there was "nothing to suggest this was a new strain".
This was the first media release issued by the Health Ministry on Tuesday:
This morning we were notified of a new positive case in the community. This case is a student at Papatoetoe High School.
The student has not been at school. They are a casual plus contact of the initial case at the High School and had been advised to self-isolate and get tested.
Papatoetoe High was closed last week (15-19 February). Today we asked the school to reclose until further notice as a precaution and asked every student and staff member to be retested. We would like to thank the school and the wider community for their ongoing cooperation. Testing has been set up at the school from this afternoon.
Anyone from the wider school community who needs to be tested today should do so at one of the community testing centres rather than at the school.
Public health staff are interviewing the student and their family and locations of interest which are identified will be made public.
This student lives in a household bubble of six, with a sibling who also attends Papatoetoe High but has also not been at school. Other family members have been tested.
Auckland February cases contact tracing update
Contact tracing has identified a total of 126 close contacts associated with the positive cases which have previously been reported. Of the remainder, 123 of the close contacts have returned a negative test result. We are awaiting test results for two people - both of whom are from the medical clinic and relate to Case C, which is considered a low risk exposure event.
Outstanding results from casual plus contacts at the school are being actively followed up. Anyone who returned to school this week needed to have returned a negative test.
Source investigation
All scenarios for possible infection sources of the Auckland February cases continue to be thoroughly investigated. The Auckland Airport precinct where Case B works remains the most likely source of the outbreak, but further testing has not identified any potential transmission routes.
The Four Points by Sheraton managed isolation facility in Auckland continues to be investigated. This is where there is a possible genomic similarity between a previous positive case (now recovered) and the current community cases - though we note it is not a direct match.
There were 265 returnees at the facility in late December. Thirty-six of these are based overseas. At this stage just 7 out of 229 based in New Zealand have not yet been contactable. We will continue to follow up with these people.
It is important to note that health officials consider this an unlikely source of the infection at this stage but are pursuing it as part of actively chasing down every line of enquiry.
New border case details
There are five new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation.
Arrival date From Via Positive test day/reason Managed isolation/quarantine location 18 February Germany Qatar Day 3 / routine Auckland 21 February India United Arab Emirates Day 0 / routine Auckland 21 February Pakistan United Arab Emirates Day 0 / routine Auckland 21 February Egypt United Arab Emirates Day 1 / routine Auckland 22 February USA Day 0 / routine Auckland No previously reported cases have recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 60. Our total number of confirmed cases is 2,007.
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,666,446.
On Monday, 4,123 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 10,096 tests processed.
Historical cases
Since January 1, there have now been 33 historical cases, out of a total of 190 cases.
NZ COVID Tracer
It remains critical to keep track of where you’ve been and the COVID Tracer app is an easy way to do this. Please continue to scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard if you haven’t already done so.
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,674,755 registered users, an increase of more than 110,000 users in the last fortnight.
Poster scans have reached 192,387,972 and users have created 7,740,622 manual diary entries. Scans in the last 24 hours 1,370,265.
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