A new positive case of Covid-19 in the community was notified to the Ministry of Health today (Tuesday February 23).

The case is a student at Papatoetoe High School.

They are a casual plus contact of the initial case at the high school and had been advised to self-isolate and get tested.

The ministry has asked the school to close until further notice as a precaution and asked every student and staff member to be retested.

Contact tracing has identified a total of 126 close contacts associated with the positive cases which have previously been reported. Of the remainder, 123 of the close contacts have returned a negative test result. 

There are five new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation.

No previously reported cases have recovered, meaning the total number of active cases in New Zealand is 60. The total number of confirmed cases is 2,007.

The ministry said it remains critical to keep track of where you’ve been and the COVID Tracer app is an easy way to do this.