New Zealand Announces New Cases Of COVID-19 Outside Quarantine Site

JAKARTA - New Zealand reported its first case of COVID-19 outside a state-run isolation facility since November 2020.

This case became known after a woman (56) tested positive for COVID-19 on her return from Europe. He was quarantined for two weeks in government quarantine, upon arrival in New Zealand.

After undergoing the test twice, he was allowed to return home from the quarantine at the Pullman Hotel, Auckland. However, afterwards he experienced symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19, reported Euronews.

"Steps to detect or carry out genome sequencing and a second PCR test are under way," said Scottish Minister Chris Hipkins in charge of COVID-19 response.

The woman is known to have four close contacts who will be isolated to continue contact tracing. All close contacts of these contacts are also isolated and tested. Including the 30 locations visited by the woman.

"Although the risk from these locations was most often very low, casual contacts attending one of the sites during the relevant period were asked to remain at home, undergo the test and wait until a negative result appears," the Health Ministry said in a statement.

To note, New Zealand has recorded a total of 2,283 cases of the corona virus and 25 deaths. As many as 71 percent of this amount came from abroad or was related to abroad.

New Zealand announced zero transmission in May 2020, after imposing strict measures since the start of the pandemic. In August 2020, New Zealand had imposed a lockdown due to new cases of infection, but again succeeded in stopping the transmission.