WELLINGTON, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand confirmed four new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, which included two imported cases detected in managed isolation facilities.
The first imported case was a boy and the second one was a woman in her 20s -- both arrived from India on Aug. 23 and both of them had close contact with previously confirmed cases, according to the Ministry of Health.
There are two new cases in the community both linked to the Auckland cluster in August, said a ministry statement.
The first community case was a close contact of an confirmed case that has been epidemiologically linked to the cluster. The second was a household contact of a confirmed patient linked to the Mt Roskill Evangelical Church sub-cluster. Both were already in isolation, it said.
Since Aug. 11, the government's contact tracing team has identified 3,224 close contacts of cases, of which 3,199 have been contacted and are self-isolating, and the team in the process of contacting the rest, the statement said.
There are 70 people linked to the community cluster who remain in the Auckland quarantine facilities, which includes 52 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their household contacts, it said.
There are four people in hospital with COVID-19, including one person in Waikato Hospital's intensive care unit, according to the ministry.
There are two previously reported cases who are considered to have recovered on Monday -- both community cases. With Monday's four new cases, the total number of active cases in New Zealand is 118. Of those, 41 are imported cases in managed isolation facilities, and 77 are community cases, it said.
The country's total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is now 1,425, which is the number reported to the World Health Organization, it added.
New rules for testing certain higher-risk workers at the border and in managed isolation and quarantine facilities were in force on Monday, shifting surveillance testing at the border to a more routine pattern, the statement said.
Workers at Managed Quarantine Facilities and workers who transport people required to be in quarantine to and from the facility will be tested once every seven days. Workers at Managed Isolation Facilities and workers who transport people required to be in isolation to and from the facility will be tested once every 14 days.
Workers in certain higher-risk occupations at the Ports of Auckland and the Port of Tauranga will be tested once every 14 days. Workers in certain higher-risk occupations at Auckland International Airport will be tested once every 14 days, the statement said. Enditem
