A fourth person released from managed isolation at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland tested positive for Covid-19, the New Zealand Ministry of Health said, but authorities reassured the public that the risk to others ” low “remains.
The individual has been at home in Hamilton, North Island, since his departure on Jan. 30, and scored three negative results before testing positive, the ministry said.
Saturday’s announcement means that five people linked to the hotel have now contracted the virus after three guests tested positive after they left, and another person got it from one of the returnees.
After the first case was announced in January, other guests in the hotel were asked to stay longer, but the building must be emptied by Sunday and next week the CCTV systems will be upgraded, followed by a deep cleaning.
Investigators have not yet determined how the virus was transmitted, but the youngest person who tested positive remained on the same floor as other confirmed cases, the director of public health, dr. Caroline McElnay, said.
All of the hotel’s recent guests were asked to isolate themselves five days after leaving home, and McElnay said Saturday’s case was picked up on the fifth day of the person’s self-isolation.
They are being returned to a quarantine facility, she said. The two close contacts with whom they lived were negative, and the positive case said that they were isolated separately in their home while wearing a face mask in common areas.
“Today’s case reinforces the importance of self-isolation and repetition testing strategy that we have adopted around the Pullman Hotel,” McElnay said.
The last case of community transfer in New Zealand was in Auckland on November 18, after which the city center was temporarily closed.