There are six new Covid-19 cases in managed isolation.

There are no new community cases today - seven days straight since a community case was reported in our country.

All six border cases were identified during routine testing around day 3 of their stay in managed isolation. One person arrived from the Netherlands via Singapore on 23 October, and four people arrived from India on 24 October.

Cargo ship leaving Napier

The crew of the cargo ship Ken Rei were all tested for Covid-19 again yesterday. They have all returned a second negative test result.

The ship will today depart Napier and head for Tauranga.

Toddler travelling from NZ tests positive in Japan

New Zealand health authorities are continuing to work with their Japanese counterparts regarding a New Zealand child who returned a weak positive Covid-19 test after their arrival in Japan last Friday 23 October.

"We suspect this is a historical case or a false positive result, and will provide further details when they are available."

Contact tracing card

The Ministry of Health says that the trial programme for the proposed contact tracing card is now moving into the final "on the ground" and analysis phases".

"The Ministry has worked closely in partnership with Te Arawa and the Universities of Waikato and Otago to co-design these phases of the programme. Te Arawa knows the Ngongotahâ community better than anyone and has the skills and experience needed to support a successful community trial."

"The programme aims to recruit between 500 and 1,500 members of the Ngongotahâ community, who will be asked to wear the cards as they go about their daily activities and attend community events. Registration will commence on 30 October, and the trial process will finish on 15 November.

"The cards use Bluetooth to exchange 'digital handshakes' with each other to keep an anonymised record of participants' close contacts with each other."