There have been four cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation – and officials have linked two more to the fast-spreading strain of the UK coronavirus.

There are no new cases in the community, said the Ministry of Health.

Of the four new border cases:

• One of them is history. This person arrived on 4 January from Great Britain via Singapore. This person tested positive on day 0/1 of routine testing and was at the facility in Hamilton.
• One case arrived on 5 January from Great Britain via Qatar. This person tested positive on day 0/1 of routine testing and is at the Auckland quarantine facility.
• One case arrived on 5 January from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates and Australia. This person tested positive on day 0/1 of routine testing and is at the Auckland quarantine facility.
• One case arrived on 29 December from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia and tested positive on the ninth day. This person is at the Auckland quarantine facility.

The total number of active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand is 62.

British tension

The Health Ministry said two more cases of Covid-19 had matched the British strain. Both arrived from the UK via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia.

“This brings the total number of variant cases ordered in New Zealand to eight,” the ministry said.

“These people are all being treated with the same high-level infection precautions as all the Covid-19 positive cases, with daily health checks and use of PPE. Infection prevention control protocols are in place for all staff and we can assure the public that there is no increased risk to the community. The British variant is more easily transmitted than the other variants of the virus, but there is no evidence at this stage that the length of the infection period differs from that of the other variants of Covid-19 nor is it more likely to produce severe disease. “

Court lockdown

It came after there virus scare in Hamilton yesterday which forced the district court to lock itself up.

The lockdown was triggered just before 10 a.m. and was lifted around 11:20 a.m., when community members were allowed out again. The court was then closed for the remainder of the day.

A source told the Herald that the lockdown was triggered because a woman working in a managed isolation facility had appeared in court and informed a staff member that she had a cold and was awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test.

The woman’s employer told the Herald she was tested as part of a routine Covid-19 check for isolation and border workers.

The negative result was confirmed by the Ministry of Health yesterday afternoon.

A former anti-mask at a Florida hospital is now warning Covid-19 not to be like the flu

A man who doesn’t believe Covid-19 is real and refuses to wear a mask has sent an emotional plea from her hospital bed, where he’s currently fighting the virus.

Struggling to breathe, Chuck Stacey warns the people in the video to believe in the dangers of Covid-19.

“I don’t wear a mask. I should have done it. I didn’t.

“I believe this is just the flu, that everything will go away, that this is political. I don’t think masks will help.

“You don’t want to end up like me. I’m having trouble breathing. I may have to be intubated if things get worse.”

The footage was shared by a friend earlier this week and shows the man in a hospital bed, battling the coronavirus.

He said he was wrong to downplay the Covid-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 1.86 million people worldwide.

“My friend is not wearing a mask because he believes the lies of our leaders. Now, he is almost intubated. He asked me to share this,” said his friend Daniel Uhlfelder, who distributed the footage.

The man urged the skeptics to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Britain is locked in as the mutant stretch tightens its grip

British PM Boris Johnson has revealed that one in 50 people in the UK is infected with Covid-19 because he promised to continue to renew the country “jab by jab” in its mission to vaccinate the most vulnerable by the middle of next month.

Johnson joins UK health bosses for a briefing on Downing Street to tell the country their lockdown is inevitable after a new, virulent strain spreads rapidly across the country.

Responding to criticism that plans to fight the outbreak were too ambitious, chief health officer Professor Chris Whitty said plans to vaccinate the 13 million most vulnerable people were “realistic but not easy”.

Inconveniently, he also warned that restrictions may be needed over the coming winter in Britain, where the virus remains circulating like seasonal influenza.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned that the changing nature of the virus meant vaccines had to be changed.

The virus will probably mutate. A different vaccine will be needed at that point, he said.

Johnson also declined to confirm that schools would reopen before the summer holidays but insisted that was the top priority.

Britain will remain under lockdown until at least March, and some measures could last even longer, as hospitals struggle to contain a new strain of the highly contagious coronavirus.