8 Dec 2020

Covid-19 update for 8 December: Six new cases in managed isolation

1:36 pm on 8 December 2020

There are six new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation and quarantine facilities today, and the Pakistan cricket team's day 12 tests have all come back negative.

Group of viruses, computer illustration.

(Illustration image). Photo: AFP

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there were no new community cases. All people in the November quarantine cluster have also recovered and been released from isolation.

The six new cases in isolation and quarantine facilities included two people who arrived on 1 December. One travelled from the UK via Qatar and Australia and was retested after an inconclusive result from day three testing, the other travelled from Sweden via Qatar and Australia and tested positive on day five.

Three people arrived on 3 December - from United Arab Emirates via Australia, from Hungary via Germany and Qatar and from the UK via Singapore - and returned positive results from day 3 testing.

The ministry said the Pakistan cricket squad's day 12 tests had all come back negative, and 52 members of the squad would be released from isolation in Christchurch today.

One squad member would remain in quarantine until fully recovered and one who had been transferred to Auckland and had repeatedly tested negative would also be released from quarantine.

In total the team had six active cases - five of whom had since recovered - and four cases that were deemed historical.

Eight recovered cases brings active case numbers to 54, while total confirmed cases are at 1729.

Laboratories completed 2894 tests yesterday, bringing total tests to 1,315,201.

The final person arrived on 5 December from Turkey via Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and were transferred to the quarantine facility on arrival.

Yesterday, there was one new imported case.

From tomorrow, ministry updates on Covid-19 cases will be cut down to four times a week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

  • If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP - don't show up at a medical centre

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