New Zealand on Sunday identified its first COVID-19 community since Sunday after a 56-year-old woman tested positive for the coronavirus strain that allegedly originated in South Africa.
Officials announced that the woman tested positive for COVID-19 after leaving her mandatory two-week isolation after returning from Europe to the country on December 30 for work.
Before the woman left the quarantine facility in Auckland, the woman tested negative for the virus twice, said Chris Hipkins, Minister of Response to COVID-19: according to Reuters.
Authorities said they thought the woman had contracted the more infectious stress of a fellow human being at the isolation facility. Hipkins said officials are investigating whether the virus could have spread through the ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
Officials found that 15 women had close contacts, and the closest contacts, her husband and hairdresser, were negative. The test results of the rest of the contacts are expected to return on Monday, The Guardian reports.
New Zealand last documented a transfer from the COVID-19 community in November, Reuters reported, citing the Ministry of Health website.
The country is known for having one of the strongest reactions to the pandemic and has reportedly reported 2,223 cases and 25 deaths. Johns Hopkins University.
The spread of the community comes because several variants of the coronavirus are spreading around the world, including a species that is thought to be more contagious, which was originally discovered in the United Kingdom. The variant from South Africa that is 50 percent more contagious has been found in at least 20 countries.
US President Biden is expected to bans non-US citizens who have visited South Africa in the past two weeks since the entry and imposed restrictions on travelers from various countries, including the United Kingdom