'Patently wrong': Ardern fires back at Trump as mystery Auckland case found among new infections
New Zealand’s coronavirus outbreak has grown by another 13 cases, with 12 of them linked to the Auckland outbreak that began last Tuesday.
The country now has 90 active cases of coronavirus, including 69 linked to the Auckland cluster, 20 in returned travellers and one other case.
That final case, according to genomic sequencing results, is a man who worked as a maintenance workers at a Rydges Hotel managed isolation facility in Auckland and is not linked to the cluster.
New Zealand's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.Credit:Getty Images
But Health Minister Chris Hipkins played down the possibility this separate case could be the start of a second cluster and that so far, the man's close contacts have returned negative results.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield conceded the Auckland outbreak was on track to be country's largest cluster.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to face a barrage of questions from Nationals opposition leader Judith Collins during question time on Tuesday afternoon.
A security guard poses for a photograph as nurses test people arriving at a Covid-19 testing facility in Otara, Auckland, NZ.Credit:Getty Images
Ahead of the Parliament sitting, Ardern also dismissed comments from US President Donald Trump who described New Zealand as experiencing a "big surge" in COVID-19 cases and that "we don't want that".
"Obviously it’s patently wrong," she said and that her country was still one of the best performing in the world in tackling the new coronavirus.
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has corrected US President Donald Trump, again.Credit:Getty Images
New Zealand is home to about 4.7 million people and has recorded 1293 cases infections. The US has a population of about 328 million people and about 5.6 million cases - a far higher infection rate per million.
In a statement, New Zealand’s Health Department said of the mysterious case that "the person returned a positive result for COVID-19 on Sunday 16 August with symptom onset on 11 August. He was transferred to Jet Park Hotel quarantine facility on Monday 17 August. It has taken till [sic] this morning for genomic sequencing results to confirm the origin of the case".
"Genome sequencing shows a returnee from the USA with the same sequence as the maintenance worker was at the Rydges Hotel.
"At this stage there is no obvious person-to-person connection between the worker and the returnee from the USA but investigations continue.
"Initial reviews of CCTV footage and swipe card movements so far show no interaction between the two people including no entry to physical locations occupied by the returnee from the USA."
Hipkins said at a daily briefing that at this stage, a separate possible outbreak "is contained, this is just one person".
"All close contacts so far have come back negative," Hipkins said, playing down suggestions that a second cluster could be forming.
Bloomfield said the man was a maintenance worker who had not interacted with guests.