Coronavirus: New Zealand finds new community Covid case
New Zealand health officials are confident of having contained a new outbreak of Covid-19 after identifying the virus in a maritime worker.
After weeks without a case of Covid-19 in the community, director general of heath Ashley Bloomfield has announced a man had returned a positive result for the virus on Saturday.
Dr Bloomfield said the man was tested on Friday within hours of developing symptoms, and had self isolated as a precaution.
"This is a case that shows our systems to identify cases early are working and we have a clear line of investigation into this person's infection," Dr Bloomfield said.
"This case has been caught early and the risk of onward transmission has been quickly contained."
The man worked on ships that have been in Auckland and Port Taranaki in New Plymouth.
It follows hundreds of New Zealand plane passengers arriving in Sydney on Friday as part of a new trans-Tasman travel bubble.
In a tentative re-opening to international tourism, travellers on the approved flights won't be required to quarantine in Sydney.
The arrangements, however, are not yet reciprocal, with New Zealand requiring arrivals to be quarantined for two weeks under supervision at the cost of A$2890 for the first person and more for additional family members.
Around 90 per cent of those travelling on Friday with Air New Zealand are booked to travel one-way, the airline said.
New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she hoped New Zealand would loosen restrictions on people arriving from Australia shortly.
"It is an important first step in bringing back international travel and we hope that Prime Minister (Jacinda) Ardern returns the favour in the near future," Ms Berejiklian said.
There was one new case of community transmission in New South Wales in the past 24 hours to Sunday, Ms Berejiklian said, while adding she would like to announce further easing of restrictions next week if the case count remains low.
Travellers from New Zealand on 'no-quarantine' flights will be able to go to NSW, the ACT and the Northern Territory without having to undergo quarantine upon arrival, authorities said. However dozens have already traveled into Victoria.
with AAP and Reuters
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