New Zealand’s minister for COVID-19 response, Chris Hipkins, had earlier revealed that the three cases were a couple and their daughter in Auckland, and that genomic testing was being conducted to see if the family’s infection was linked to any highly infectious variants.
The new cases, the first since January 24, forced Ardern to return to the capital Wellington, skipping a gay pride event in Auckland that she was due to attend on Sunday afternoon.
“Our system has swung into action,” Hipkins told a hastily called media conference. “We are gathering all of the facts as quickly as we can. And the system that’s served us so well in the past is really gearing up to do so again.”
New Zealand – which had gone more than two months without infection before the January case – is to start inoculating its 5 million people against the new coronavirus on February 20, after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier than anticipated.
Health authorities are still working to find out how the family contracted the virus and “whether COVID-19 could be out there in the community … or whether this is the start of what could be a chain of transmission,” he said.
As a precaution, the high school of the girl in the family will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, with COVID-19 testing facilities to be set up there, officials said.
Airlines have also been contacted, as the woman in the infected family works for an airline catering company, LSG Sky Chefs, where she mostly works in the laundry facilities, they said.
Authorities say the mother and daughter showed first signs of symptoms, and their positive tests had relatively low CT values – indicating “new and active” infections.
The family
The mother’s main duties at LSG Sky Chefs are in the laundry department, but she is also involved in packing and preparing meals, it was announced.
LSG Sky Chefs provides services to both international and domestic airlines. However, the woman hasn’t been on any flights to collect food trays or laundry.
She undergoes regular COVID-19 surveillance testing, and last tested negative on January 18.
She was last at work on February 5, and is not expected to have been infectious then.
The father, who is understood to be a tradesman, is self-employed and a case interview is under way to determine who might need to isolate and be tested.
Reuters, with Stuff.co.nz, wires
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