A student at Auckland’s Mount Albert Grammar has tested positive for COVID-19, principal Patrick Drumm told RNZ.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has confirmed the student was a close contact of the existing four cases in South Auckland.
The school informed staff, parents and students last night and Auckland Regional Public Health Service says close contacts of the students are in self-isolation.
There are four positive COVID-19 cases and four probable, currently it is unclear whether the new Mount Albert Grammar case is one of the ‘probable’.
Mount Albert Grammar has about 3,000 students and is one of the biggest schools in the country.
Epidemiologist Michael Baker says it is probable an outbreak has gone through a few generations of transmission already and that it could have been weeks before someone was sick enough to show symptoms.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield said this morning that while it is possible the virus has been circulating for weeks, he is confident “we will find the source, I have no doubt about that”.
Auckland is in the second day of alert level 3 lockdown, with the rest of the country at level 2.
