New Zealand reported its first case of the coronavirus in the community in two months.
A 56-year-old woman fell ill several days after leaving a quarantine facility in Auckland earlier this month and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19, Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a news conference Sunday in Wellington.
The woman lives in Northland at the top of New Zealand’s North Island. She and four close contacts are now isolating as officials carry out contact tracing and genome sequencing.
It’s New Zealand’s first case of coronavirus in the community since November. While cases are regularly caught at the border in people returning from overseas, the country has successfully eliminated local outbreaks and there are currently no restrictions on social gatherings, sporting events or domestic travel.
The woman, who had returned from Europe, completed the mandatory two weeks in managed isolation and returned a negative test before leaving. Officials don’t know how she was infected or whether it is the more virulent strain that originated in the U.K.
While the health ministry is awaiting results of a further test to confirm the infection, "we are working on the assumption that this is a positive case and that it is a more transmissible variant,” Bloomfield said.
"We are casting the net wide to ensure that we contain any potential community transmission. This is precautionary but vital.”
New Zealand currently has 79 active cases in isolation. It has reported a total of 1,927 confirmed infections and 25 deaths.
