News
The All of Government COVID-19 National Response will provide an update at 1.00 pm today.
Watch live stream (BELOW) of the update will be available on this page at 1.00 pm.
Speakers:
Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Director-General of Health – health update
- There are 39 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 28 new probable cases in NZ, bringing the country to a total of 1006.
- 13 people are in hospital, 3 are in ICU – 2 in Wellington and 1 in Auckland.
- Just under 40,000 tests have been carried out so far.
- 43 percent of total cases are travel related, 38 percent had contact with a confirmed case and 2 percent are considered community transmission.
- We currently have 12 significant clusters.
- The three biggest clusters remain Marist College with 72 cases, the wedding in Bluff with 62 and Matamata with 58.
- There is more information about a significant cluster in Christchurch, at the Rosewood rest home. There are 15 confirmed and probable cases. 20 residents have been moved to Burwood Hospital to be cared for by the DHB.
- Auckland Metro, Waikato and Southern are the areas with the highest number of cases under investigation.
- The main stay of close contact tracing remains the call centre, but the government are looking at smartphone tracing.
- There are reports that people with non-covid related health problems are delaying seeking treatment. Please call your GP or Healthline for advice. Many GPs can provide a consultation by phone or video. Please do not stop seeking care that you might need for any medical condition you have, Bloomfield says.
- Bloomfield says upping the technology within the National contact tracing centre gives them access to the National Health Index with up to date contact details.
- We received another 100,000 nasal swabs last week and they are being distributed at a national level.
- Surveillance testing plan will be finalised in the next couple of days.
- However, you’d need to sample at least 100,000 people to get an idea of infection in the community, epidemiologist Rod Jackson told Dr Bloomfield.
- It’s still possible we may do widespread testing.
- A member of the DHB has been placed in the Rose Wood rest home to supervise the 40 residents remaining at the facility.Ashley Bloomfield says those who are still at the aged care facility could be harbouring the virus.
- We can be encouraged by daily case numbers staying at a similar level, but we are still looking for a drop.
- “Some success so far, but our aim is to stamp it out,” Bloomfield says.
- Ruby Princess – there are two groups associated with the cluster of 16. 6 were passengers on the ship who have come back to NZ from Australia.
- Four people who were a van driver or tour guide, one translator, who picked up the infection during the cruise ship’s final stop in Napier. There is an infection related to one of those people in an aged care facility in Hawkes Bay.
- Bloomfield says the surveillance plan won’t necessarily involve testing.