Details of the holiday taken by a family with Covid-19 have been revealed by the Ministry of Health.

There are three new Covid cases today in managed isolation and no community cases to report.

Yesterday the Ministry of Health reported three new community cases and today revealed more of the family's travel around New Zealand. Officials have the infected family has 31 close contacts.

"The three people are part of the same family group – two had been in managed isolation in Christchurch and returned home of the chartered flight, while the third is a household contact. Two were tested because they were known flight contacts of the original case; the third was tested because they were a household contact," the ministry said today.

"The family has been self-isolating over the last four days...the family travelled to Taupō between 18 and 20 September, where they met up with 18 others from 5 locations around New Zealand. Those 18 people, who travelled from Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton are all considered close contacts," the ministry said.

"In addition to those 18 people, another 13 people have been identified as close contacts. All 31 contacts have been or are in the process of being tested and all are isolating.
Public health services have been in contact with businesses where individuals may have visited while infectious."

Places and times of those visits are:

• Christchurch domestic airport, 11 September, 10.30-12.30PM
  • Hot pools at DeBretts Spa Resort, Taupō, 18 Sept, 2.30-7.00PM
  • Taupō Tandem Skydiving based at Taupō Airport, 19 Sept, 2.00-3.30PM
  • Just Cuts, Westfield, St Lukes, Thursday 17 September, 4.00-5.00PM

The health ministry revealed yesterday the three new cases were a family group who flew on the September 11 plane after having completed their 14 day stay.

Also on the flight was the man who tested positive for Covid-19 at the weekend whose virus is thought to have had a rare three-week incubation period.

The latest cases were seated near the infected man.

There were 86 people on the charter flight. So far 63 have returned a negative test.

Another case from the man's earlier Delhi-Fiji flight has now been genomically sequenced, and the result is a close match. The case is still being investigated, but he is now thought to have contracted Covid-19 before arriving in New Zealand.

There are currently 62 people with Covid in New Zealand. Twenty-eight people are imported cases in quarantine facilities and 34 are community cases.

The Auckland August cluster, which sparked the latest regional lockdown, stands at 178 cases to date.

Since August 11, 4,014 people have been identified as close contacts of cases, of which 4,006 have been contacted and self-isolating or have completed self-isolation. The remaining eight people are still be tracked down.

Meanwhile, health authorities also announced they have discovered the true first case of Covid-19 in New Zealand and the start of community transmission.

The health ministry made the finding after a Waikato man returned a weak positive result after getting tested for a sore throat.

Serology test results indicated an old infection of the virus which dated back to February 21.

At the time a family member was visiting New Zealand from Italy. The entire household fell ill with symptoms consistent with Covid-19 but did not get tested at the time as they did not meet strict testing criteria.

The infected family member from Italy was now regarded as the index case for Covid arriving in New Zealand after reporting symptoms on February 21, a week before the previous first reported case on February 28.

Five other family members who started falling ill within the week have been identified as historical probable cases of the virus and the first locally acquired community transmission.