20 July 2023
Liz Blue
[FYI request #23069 email] Tēnā koe Liz
Your request for Official information, reference: HNZ00022126
Thank you for your email on 29 June 2023, asking for the following which has been
considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
• As of 9/6/23, the earliest confirmed case of Covid 19 in New Zealand.
The earliest confirmed case of Covid-19 in New Zealand was uploaded into the case
database on 26 February 2020.
• As of 9/6/23, the best known estimate of when Covid 19 entered New Zealand.
According to experts present at the organisations involved at the time, it is difficult to
determine when Covid-19 entered New Zealand. No specific estimates were produced at the
time.
• The number of people who died while in MIQ facilities attributed to Covid 19.
• The number of people who died within two weeks of arriving into or leaving MIQ
attributed to Covid 19 (please exclude those from the previous bullet point, if
possible).
This part of your request is refused under section 18(f) as the information requested cannot
be made available without substantial collation or research from individual records. However,
we can advise that there have been two deaths attributed to Covid-19 in cases whose
infection was detected in managed isolation.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[email address]. If you are not
happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by
phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Te Whatu Ora may
proactively release a copy of this response on our website. All requester data, including your
name and contact details, will be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Daniel Hirst
Group Manager - Intelligence
National
Public Health Service
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Te Whatu Ora, PO Box 793,
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
