The All of Government COVID-19 National Response will provide an update at 1.00 pm today.

A health update will be provided.
There are 82 new cases of Covid-19 in NZ. 52 are confirmed and 30 are probable.
There are ten in hospital around the country and one in ICU at Wellington Regional Hospital.The combined total of cases in NZ is now 950.
We now have capacity to do 6000 tests per day.
We have more than 100,000 nasal and throat swabs in stock.Yesterday
was highest single day of testing at 3631, bringing total tests to 3631.
There is now testing capacity for 6000 per day.
There remains a strong link to to overseas travel, but 17 percent of cases are still being investigated for community transmission.
The three biggest clusters are Marist College in Auckland with 60 cases, Bluff with 55 cases and Matamata with 54 cases.
There will be further clarity given about what self isolation means.
There has been a small minority who have not been following the guidelines.
Testing will now be available for people with respiratory problems without links to overseas travel.
There has been no change to recovery definition. 10 days must have passed since onset of symptoms and 48 hours since symptoms have passed.
There are ways in which wearing a mask can be helpful, but there is some evidence that wearing one can do harm – such as how it leads to touching your face more often.
Masks can also give a “false sense of security”.
Healthline continues to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Wait times have gone down to about 5 minutes.
We are seeing a trend in primary care and Healthline of people with other health concerns not seeking help due to Covid-19. There still is capacity for other health problems.
Bloomfield says US is pushing face masks because there are much higher rates of infection.
Fever is no longer a requirement to be tested for Covid-19, testing is now available for people with respiratory problems, regardless of contact with overseas travel.
There are over 60 assessment centres around NZ.

We are not hitting our testing capacity because we have more than we need right now, says Bloomfield. We want to keep some capacity for our surveillance program, which is being finalised.

Healthline managed 14,746 calls yesterday, with people concerned about their health.Surf the internet, not the sea, says Ashley Bloomfield to those going surfing at Muriwai.
We are not seeing a sudden spike, despite a big increase in testing.

There is an All of Government group looking at getting Kiwis home from overseas.

A livestream of the update will be available from this page later today.

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https://youtu.be/0BSEqssl2w8

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Watch: Government COVID-19 National Response, 4th April

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