There is one new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation in New Zealand today.
The Ministry of Health says the latest case is a man in his 30s who arrived in New Zealand on July 10 from Pakistan via Dubai.
“He is in quarantine at the Sudima Hotel in Rotorua,” the ministry said in a statement.
Seven people previously reported as having Covid-19 have recovered, bringing the number of active cases in New Zealand to 21.
“The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is now 1,199, which is the number we report to the World Health Organisation.”
There is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care for Covid-19.
“Yesterday our laboratories completed 2,497 tests, 528 of which were taken at managed isolation or quarantine facilities.”
The total number of tests completed in New Zealand to date is 438,720 and it has been 77 days since the last case of Covid-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source.
Recovery criteria strengthened
The clinical criteria for recovery from Covid-19 in New Zealand has changed following a review.
Previously, the criteria meant that an individual with Covid-19 had to have at least 10 days since the onset of symptoms or a positive test and at least 48 hours without symptoms to be considered as recovered.
"The 48 hours will now increase to 72 hours as an extra precaution."
The new recovery criteria are in line with the approach taken in Australia and fit with guidelines from the World Health Organisation.
The ministry says review confirmed that the virus can persist in cases who have recovered but are no longer infectious.
"This is why testing is not routinely done in New Zealand or Australia to determine recovery, although it may be done if clinically indicated."
It comes after director-general of health Dr Bloomfield yesterday talked about a recent case where an individual who had been assessed as recovered. The individual then received subsequent medical treatment in Middlemore Hospital for an underlying health condition and returned a positive result for COVID-19 as part of their hospital care.
"As a result of that positive test result, the individual was returned to the quarantine facility in Auckland and reassessed by the clinician in charge, the ministry said.
“Their clinical view was that the positive test was a result of residual virus; the symptoms were related to an underlying condition and the individual had recovered and was confirmed as low risk.”
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer has now recorded 611,500 registered users.
“We continue to encourage all New Zealanders to keep a record of where they have been - particularly by scanning QR codes through the app.”
There have been 79,492 posters created to date, and 1,458,852 poster scans.