WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand reported its first case of coronavirus outside a quarantine facility in more than two months, although there was no immediate evidence that the virus was spreading in the community.
Health director-general Ashley Bloomfield said on Sunday that the case was for a 56-year-old woman who recently returned from Europe.
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Like other travelers who returned, she spent 14 days in quarantine and was negative twice before returning home on January 13. Later, she developed symptoms and the test came back positive.
He said health officials will carry out genome tests, but are working under the assumption that the case is a more transmissible variant of the virus.
He said they are investigating to see if it is possible that she contracted the illness from another traveler who was in the same quarantine center.
New Zealand has eliminated community transmission of the virus, at least for now.
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Bloomfield said officials are stepping up contact tracking and testing efforts and hope to have more information about the case in the coming days.