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Another close contact of the Covid-positive Auckland family has tested negative - bringing to 12 the number of close contacts who have tested negative, director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said today.
It is further positive news as the country awaits today the majority of test results from Papatoetoe High School - and with it, future of Auckland's snap level-3 lockdown and the rest of New Zealand's level-2 restrictions.
The Auckland family - a mother, father and daughter who have tested positive - have what are considered 42 close contacts. Thirty-three of them are students and teachers from the high school and nine are non-high school close contacts.
Eleven of these 42 people returned negative tests yesterday, and a 12th - another school test - came back negative last night.
Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that if all of the close contacts came back negative "that would reduce the likelihood" Covid-19 was widespread in the community.
But he wouldn't go so far as to say New Zealand would be in the clear. "We're not done, what we are is reassured that there hasn't been any onward transmission from our current cases. The other thing we're really looking for - because we're not sure exactly where this infection has come from - is are there any parallel sort of chains of infection or chains of transmission out there in the community.
"So the wider testing in the school, and in the workplace and the community, and in particular those places of interest is what we're really looking at as well."
Separately, seven of nine close colleagues of the mother - who works at airline food and laundry provider LSG Sky Chefs - have returned negative tests so far.
The mother is considered the most likely of the three family members to have contracted the virus first although that has yet to be confirmed.
Bloomfield said officials were keeping an open mind about the source of the infection because the daughter developed symptoms before the mother.
"The important thing about a source is keeping an open mind and not to jump to conclusions, just because the mother works around the airport precinct is not to say 'oh that's where it's come from'. One of the interesting things here is that the daughter reported onset of symptoms before the mother. So we have to be open-minded that she could be the first case, and could have got it somewhere else. And that's what we're trying to track down."

Onward spread and whether the source of the infection has been found - or narrowed - would be the key things Bloomfield will be looking at when he writes his advice for Cabinet tomorrow on alert levels. "By the end of the day we'll certainly have a lot more information."
More than 3000 people were tested yesterday and the bulk of those results would come back today.
Those results will help determine if Auckland's lockdown is a short, sharp affair - perhaps over as early as tomorrow night - or whether the country is dealing with a bigger community outbreak of Covid-19.
Health experts are still striving to pinpoint the source of the UK variant which has infected the Auckland family.
Hundreds of people were tested at a pop-up testing station at the school yesterday. The school's principal, Vaughan Couillault, expects 3000 tests to be administered over Monday and today, and urged patience for those waiting up to two hours in line.
News yesterday of no new active Covid-19 cases connected to the family came as "heartening" news to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern but she is waiting until today's mass-testing results before she gets too comfortable.
"We do want to give it that bit more time before we get too far ahead of ourselves," she said last night.
Bloomfield was also pleased, saying yesterday's reported Covid numbers were an "encouraging sign".
But, like Ardern, he will be keeping a close eye on today's test results – particularly those from the school – before he gets too excited. "It is the days ahead that will be crucial."
Bloomfield disagr...