New Zealand identifies 31 new Covid-19 cases

Wellington, Jan 10 New Zealand has identified 31 new coronavirus cases during the past three days, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Sunday.

While there was no new community infection, there has been an average of around 10 new and historical cases of Covid-19 at the New Zealand border per day, totalling 31 cases since the Ministry's last media statement on January 7, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since December 13, 2020, whole genome sequencing had identified a total of 19 Covid-19 cases at the New Zealand border with the variant known as 20B/501Y.V1 (lineage B1.1.17) detected in Britain and one case with the variant first identified in South Africa (501Y.V2), the Ministry statement said.

"The number of cases reinforces the need for on-going vigilance at the border, as Covid-19 continues to accelerate overseas", it added.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand was currently 75 and the total infection tally stood at 2,188.

The total number of tests processed by New Zealand laboratories to date is 1,438,446, while the deaths have increased to 25.

The public was urged by the Ministry to keep contact tracing and to maintain stringent hygiene practices as the pandemic continues around the globe.

New Zealand is currently at Covid-19 Alert Level One with no restriction on public gathering.

( With inputs from IANS )