Covid-19 re-emerges in the community in New Zealand, with one new case today

This story originally appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission

There is one new case of Covid-19 in the community in New Zealand today.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield confirmed the news this afternoon.

The case is a man who works on ships in the ports of Auckland and Taranaki.

He was regularly tested as part of border testing working in the shipping industry.

He returned a negative test on October 2 but felt unwell on Friday October 16 and after contacting Healthline, took a Covid-19 test which returned a positive result yesterday afternoon.

Bloomfield said the contact tracing systems were quickly put into action.

“Because the man was tested so quickly after developing symptoms within the space of a few hours, we were able to identify and isolate his own close contacts within the space of a few hours after receiving the test result yesterday afternoon,” he said.

Bloomfield urged all New Zealanders to be vigilant about being tested for Covid-19 as soon as symptoms emerge.