One ‘suspected’ case of COVID-19 in home isolation, no change in alert levels
There is a suspected historical case of COVID-19 detected from one of the 46 passengers who arrived from Auckland on Monday this week.
In a press release this afternoon, after 3pm the government announced that ‘we have one suspected case of COVID-19 in Niue’.
In response to an email seeking clarification on the ‘suspected case’, Director-General Gaylene Tasmania said that “You can also have ‘positive historical cases’ – PCR detects the virus which is still in a person’s system but the virus is no longer active. These people have recovered from illness, hence are historical cases.
We have deemed this a suspect case as we don’t have enough information to determine either way. Day 3 testing will provide more information to help with this determination”, says Director-General Gaylene Tasmania.
The forty-six passengers are spread out over twelve villages. According to the NDMO, there are no home isolation sites in Hikutavake and Vaiea.
Since the 3rd of May, all passengers from Auckland are required to isolate themselves in their homes for seven days. They are permitted to drive to the Health Department to the drive-through testing clinic on Tuesday, Thursday, and Monday next week.
The government’s press release states ‘Further testing will be carried out on day three, and this status may change. However, until then, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Niue will remain at zero.
Passengers currently in home isolation must be tested on days one, three, and seven and strictly follow the home isolation guidelines.
Niue’s National COVID Response will remain on Alert Level Blue.”
