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• There are a total of 21 Delta Covid cases, an increase of 11
• The NZ outbreak has now been linked to a traveller from Sydney
• Two infected people are now in hospital in a stable condition
• Police confirm arrests for lockdown flouters
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will update the media today at 1pm.
Transcript
Tena koutou katoa. Good afternoon.
There is quite a bit to cover in today's update.
I want to start with the latest on our work to identify the source of our outbreak. After Dr Bloomfield gives us the latest on our current cases, I will then share some of the work we're doing to accelerate our vaccination program. That includes ensuring that more New Zealanders are vaccinated generally, but especially those who are currently at most risk from the virus. I'll then finish up with an update on Afghanistan.
Let's start with the investigation into how these cases came into our community.
Yesterday, we confirmed we are dealing with the infectious Delta variant and that it came from Australia, via the NSW outbreak. I can now report, from the whole genome sequence analysis, that our current positive cases are a close match to a recent returnee from Sydney, who arrived on a managed red zone flight on August 7th, had a day 1 test on the 8th, returning a positive result on the 9th. They were transferred from the Crown Plaza to the jet park quarantine facility that same day. This person subsequently became unwell, and was moved to Middlemore Hospital on the 16th of August.
What this information tells us is that our cases are most likely to have come from the traveller.
This is a significant development. It means now we can be fairly certain how and when the virus entered the country, and that, based on time lines, there are minimal, possibly only one or maybe two, missing links between this returnee and cases in our current outbreak, and the period in which cases were in the community is relatively short.
There is still a chance that additional information could emerge to change this conclusion. So we do need to remain open to other possibilities. That means you will see our Public Health Unit continue to be very cautious around possible places of interest, and you will have seen that in some of those locations of interest to date.
However, the balance of evidence you now gives us enough confidence to focus our search for that missing link.
Our primary lines of investigation are staff at the Crown Plaza-managed isolation facility, where the returnee was originally based, staff at the jet park quarantine facility, and other MIQ and border staff involved in their arrival and transport from the airport and between managed isolation facilities. Middlemore Hospital is not a line of investigation at this stage.
The individual was only moved there on the 16th, one day before lockdown and delays after symptom onset in a number of our other cases.
So let's break down the possible points where contact with this traveller may have occurred.
On the 9th of August, when the case returned a positive result, our Public Health Unit kicked into gear, contacted Auckland airport and customs, who went through all the footage to determine any con it tact that positive case may have had with staff. This is our usual practice when we have a positive case in a facility.
Three areas of interest were identified. Customs confirmed with me again today that these have all been investigated and staff tested. Nothing has event gated from this line of inquiry to date. Let's then turn to our facilities.
There were 208 staff who worked at the Crown Plaza or the individual in - while the individual in question was there. Of though, as of today, only one of those 208 staff is now overdue for testing, and only by less than 48 hours.
For the jet park, there were 200 staff working across the site from the 9th to the 16th of August. As of today, two are overdue test, but again, by less than 48 hours as of today. All staff across both sites who have not been tested in the last 48 hours are now being retested.
In terms of vaccinations - across both sites, 407 people were compliant with the vaccination order that we have in place. That order requires all existing staff to be fully vaccinated. If a new staff member comes on board, they must have their first dose and complete their second dose within a 35-day window. Only four had one dose and were not yet due to their second. One person had gone longer than 35 days, and that person has been told they cannot enter the facility until they comply with the order. All remaining were fully vaccinated.
As you can see, the compliance generally across these sites has been really high, but we will continue our search in a thorough way across both sites, as you would expect, and we'll look to come back to you with detail on those additional tests we're running across both sights in future updates as those results come through.
The final point - we have learned today that a family adjacent to the case at the Crown Plaza has now tested positive for COVID on their day 12 test.
While we're awaiting genome sequencing, we can assume that means we're dealing with a high level of infectivity in this case. Everyone at the Crown Plaza will stay on while we undertake our usual protocols, but here is where our practice of what we call cohorting is really helpful.
People generally arrive at the same time, and stay for the same period in the facility. It really does reduce down the risks and means that we catch situations exactly like this one. So while today you will see we continue to find cases downstream, there could be relatively few cases upstream, as in people who picked up the virus from the very beginning of the chain. That's simply because it wasn't here for long, we believe, before it was found.
On that note, can I thank again our first positive case that was identified on Tuesday. If it wasn't for you getting tested when you did, this could be a much, much more difficult situation. Having said that, I know we're all prepared for cases to get worse before they get better. That is always the pattern in these outbreaks. But today, we believe we have uncovered the piece of the puzzle we were looking for, and that means our ability to circle the virus, lock it down and stamp it out generally has greatly improved.
I'll now pass to Dr Bloomfield to go over today's case numbers.
Thank you, Prime Minister. Kia ora koutou katoa
So today I can report there are 11 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the community that is since yesterday's 1pm update, taking our total number of community cases all in Auckland to 21.
All of these cases who are in the community are being transferred safely to the Auckland quarantine facility or are already there under the usual strict infection prevention and control procedures. 12 of the 21 cases have already been confirmed as being part of the same Auckland cluster and a further eight are currently being investigated, and are as yet not formally linked.
However, for a number of those, there are strong lead thoz them being linked to existing cases.
One of those previously reported cases of the 21 is confirmed to be unlikely to be linked to the cluster and that is the air crew member you heard me talk about in this morning's media round, so this is essentially a border-related case, probably coincidental, and that case was identified during routine surveillance testing. It's an international crew member.
So whilst we don't have the details on the new community cases available at this stage, and interviews are under way, we will release further information as it becomes available through the afternoon. Now, these new community cases are not unexpected, as the Prime Minister said, and we would expect the number of cases to continue to grow, in particular, because of the large number of locations of interest, and the mobility of these cases over the few days before the lockdown started.
There are also eight new cases in recent returnees in our managed isolation facilities. Two of those are historical cases and information about those will be in the ministry's press release.
Two of our community cases were taken no North Shore hospital overnight. One had worsening symptoms and the other is symptomatic and has underlying conditions. One of these people is in their 20s, the other is in their 40s. Both are in a stable condition.
The Prime Minister mentioned the Crown Japan plaza. As a precautionary measure a hold was put on some departures from the Crown Plaza last night hand that was in in response to this bubble of three people in the facility testing positive for COVID-19 at day 12 of their stay. This is something we do where we get an unexpected day 12 positive result to just make sure that there's no pots tension that others may have been infected after they returned a negative day 12 test. So the returnees who are on the same floor who were scheduled to leave overnight are required to stay there while it's investigated further and that is has included already reviewing of CCTV footage and running the whole genome sequencing on these three new cases that is due later with today and that will help us confirm the probable link to the case in the room next door. This was disruptive for those who had planned to leave and they will be provided with full support.
Unless there are specific issues identified that might be cause for concern, it's likely returnees on other floors scheduled to leave today will be able to do so. The overall assessment is that further transmission, based on what we know so far, is there is a low risk but naturally we're not taking any chances.
We thoif now received the results of waste water collected on Monday and Tuesday this week. The sampling collected on Monday returned positive results for waste water from three Auckland sites, Rosedale on Auckland's North Shore, and the western and eastern intersectors. Sampling from Tuesday at St George site in Auckland - and that's a subcatchment of the western interceptor, and that collects waste water from the Waitakari area lsh was also positive this follows negative results from these locations from samples on the 11th of August. I had one of my team just briefly - just quickly map out the locations of the cases and how those sit with respect to those - the drainage areas for those different interceptors and there are cases in all those areas that we know about now. So given we've only got the 21 cases so far, the sensitivity of the test something very high and it does help us with our assessment of the situation.
There will be further results available late today for some other samples taken around the Auckland region, and diszal results are expected tomorrow, including results of samples taken in several locations in Coromandel and Thames.
Other sampling undertaken on Monday and Tuesday at Mount Monganui and several other locations, Hutt Valley, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Queenstown and Invercargill have all come back negative.
On testing, in Auckland, all community testing centres are open again today with extended hours through to 8pm. There are four additional pop-up testing centres open. There is some additional testing going into Avondale College for students to be able to be tested in a safe way. There is increased testing capacity in Waikato with a range of testing sites already in place. Testing sites remain open in Coromandel township and Hamilton. There was an excellent response there yesterday. DHBs right around the motu are ensuring there is good access to testing. We need anyone with symptoms right around the country get tested, to help inform our advice to the government about alert levels. Yesterday, there were close to 16,000 swabs taken across Auckland, the busiest day in in that area since August last year. Around 10,000 of those tests were taken in general practice and urgent care clinics and I want to thank our colleagues working in those settings who have really been very busy over this half the day, their busiest day ever. Nearly 3,000 swabs taken across Waikato and about 600 of those were from the Thames/Coromandel area A massive effort.
I want to thank those for their testing and waiting for testing for their patience. Please be kind to the staff there who are working as fast as they can. We will have more confidence in the advice we can provide the government around alert levels if we have good testing rates. So if you have symptoms, please get tested. There's a lot of contact tracing work happening across Auckland and the Coromandel, and that involves the Auckland regional public Health Service, our national investigation and tracing centre and all of the country's Public Health Units. Isolation by close contacts when in an alert Level 4 requires them to ice hate separate from other household members. So it's not isolating within the household bubble. As of this morning, more than 360 individual contacts had been identified. This does exclude at this stage contacts from large settings like the college and the church of Christ where there is still an assessment under way. Through the day today that number will increase significant lip. Details of additional locations of interest continue to be added to the ministry's website this morning. We are also going to put out regular through the day updates on newly emergent sites of interest, locations of interest through our various social media channels to make sure that it's easy for people to see just which are the new ones. It's very important that people look at the times as well as the place, because it doesn't mean if you had been at those places at any time. Please look at the time there. If people have been at a location of interest, remember the form is to isolate. If you are not already. In other words f you're not an essential worker t does mean you can't go out to the supermarket, pharmacy or anywhere else while you're doing that - while you're isolating, call healthline for advice. Our busiest day for healthline yesterday since April last year, and a record number of people accessing the ministerier of health web site, almost 1.3 million, largely looking for locations of interest.
On that just a reminder, there is a section 70 notice in place which requires everybody who has been at the location of interest to legally follow public health instructions, to ice late and be tested. There is a separate section 70 notice that applies to the household contacts of a person who has been at a location of interest. Under that section 70 notice - and this is a new thing - they are required to isolate as well, and this means they can't go out for any purpose, or if they are an essential worker, they need to isolate, until that person who's been at a location of interest has returned a negative test after Day 5.
We are also receiving a large number of complaints about enforcement, particularly about people holding gatherings and these are all being referred to police to follow up. Finally, it is a time of uncertainty, and so, quite normal for people to be anxious. Please, do keep an eye on each other. Last year, we crushed the curve by looking out for each other. Don't forget the smallest and largest question you can ask someone is "Are you OK?" Back to you, Prime Minister.
Thank you, Dr Bloomfield. As you can see from that update, Level 4 is where New Zealand needs to be at the moment. But as we talked about yesterday, we want to ensure we don't waste any time in vaccinating Kiwis. I want to start by thanking New Zealanders for continuing to take up the invitation to book are in - their vaccinations and remind everyone over the age of 40 you don't need to wait for an invit tags. You can go to the website or ring the 0800 number now to book yourself in. Yesterday was a record day for bookmyvaccine.nz with 195,537 bookings made in a single day, which is fantastic. During yesterday's stand-up, the 1pm update, more than 7,500 people per minute were using the site, and it performed exceptionally well. As signalled yesterday, a phased approach to reopening vaccination sites with the Level 4 protocols in place has now begun.
This enables everyone to stay safe while we vaccinate. So, please, if you have a booking, and you've not had any other communication from your provider, please, still go, because we're expecting you. Primary cares facilities have also resumed carrying out COVID-19 vaxxes today and with some less urgent appointments being cancelled as a result of Level 4, many now have extra capacity. The plan is to use that extra capacity to continue with those who are already booked in but to also bring through essential workers. Our plans to vaccinate these workers started with those who are customer facing, who interact with the public as part of their essential work. For example, supermarket workers who may not have been eligible because of their age bands to date. We're working with employers of these essential work forces to identify the individuals and workers, you can expect to hear from your employer with extra details. We're also working with the COVID vaccination healthline on a process for smaller businesses and people who are self-employed to enable them to book if they too fit that criteria. On that note I also want to pay sure New Zealanders that our vaccine supply chain continues to operate well with the deliveries continuing to go out daily. But again, please do book.
It just means that we can ensure good physical distancing when you attend your vaccination appointment. As you know, it's imperative that we get as many people as possible vaccinated. When we make a decision on who is eligible, though, our No. 1 priority is the medical advice of our experts. You will remember that in June, our regulator, Meldsafe, granted provisional approval for the iz Pfizer vaccine to be given to 12 to 15-year-olds in New Zealand. Similar decisions have been made by other regulators in Europe, the US, Canada and Japan. The advice was then considered by an additional group of experts, who also supported an extension of eligibility to young people. On that basis, Cabinet has agreed to make the Pfizer vaccine available for 12 to 15-year- olds. This is not a decision we have taken lightly.
Many of us are parents ourselves and take this duty of making decisions about other people's children extremely seriously, but it is safe, and it's the right thing to do. So 12 to 15-year-olds can become eligible and book, along with everyone else that we are opening up to from the 1st of September. We know, though, that a number of these children's parents will already be eligible to book their vaccines.
We want to be practical about this. So from tomorrow morning, parents and care giveers are eligible for their vaccines will also be able to book their 12 to 15- year-olds at the same time. But if you've already booked, then just bring them along. Please just make sure that while you do that, you work hard to keep physical distancing up from others. There are an estimated 265,000 people in the 12 to 15- year-old age bracket, so this is an important next step. Please be assured again, we have more than enough Pfizer vaccines for everyone, including the 12 to 15-year-old age group. As COVID takes centre stage in New Zealand, international events and obligations remain. None more so than our responsibility to New Zealanders and those who helped New Zealand in Afghanistan. Earlier today, we deployed a C-130 Hercules and supporting personnel to assist with international efforts to evacuate New Zealander, Afghani nationals an other foreign nationals from Afghanistan. The New Zealand Defence Force is preparing to deploy for up to a month and due to the developing situation in Afghanistan, sought approval from Cabinet to deploy up to 80 personnel to support the international response.
The contingent will include air crew and maintenance staff, a medical team to support our personnel and evacuees, operational support staff, logistics personnel and others. All personnel are vaccinate and will be carrying out COVID-19 prevention wrote comes. They will complete 14 days' managed isolation on their return to New Zealand. We would continue to work along side partners, especially Australia, as we respond to this rapidly evolving humanitarian situation. This means that we may see some individuals bound for New Zealand returned on partners assets and vice versa as our international partners look to cooperate wherever they can to safely expedite the evacuation of those most in need.
When we met this morning with officials, we were advised, though, that the situation on the ground is incredibly difficult. People are struggling to get to Kabul airport. We need to be prepared for how hard this mission will be, and how difficult it will be to evacuate those who we are seeking to help. Our thoughts are with our Defence Force team as they enter on this deployment. I know that you will do what you can. Before I conclude, some final public service announcements, back related to our Level 4 settings. First, we're being asked to remind businesses who are wanting advice or to know what support might be available to them that they can call the EMA's business help line on 0800 000 362.
Of course, MB also provides support through business Connect. Second, ministers have made a decision to extend the period for air travel from Queenstown and the Cook strait ferry through to 2359 on Friday, 20 August. This applies only to people need be to return home, and is in response to the large amount of demand that we have on those facilities. Lastly, I note everyone outside Auckland and the Coromandel in particular is anxiously awaiting news on how long their Level 4 conditions will remain in place. Ministers will meet tomorrow morning and we'll share a decision taken at tomorrow's update.
What I'd like to leave you with today, though, is some optimism, but also, a strong serving of caution, as you would expect. News that we believe we've identified how this Delta variant entered New Zealand should not be underestimated. It means that alongside the what, we now believe we have a good handle on the how and where.
That said, it is well known globally that Delta is tougher than previous variants of COVID. So while we have further information to inform our response, we also know it is going to be a tough fight, that we all need to play our part in. So, please, stay at home, wear a mask if you do need to go out, practise good hygiene, stick to our bubble, and be kind to those around you. While the high numbers of people getting tested has seen some people waiting in queues I want you to know that you are doing the right thing for yourself, your family, your community and New Zealand. High compliance alongside reports of low vehicle traffic tells me that New Zealanders are following the rules that will work and our public health units are reporting that when they are making calls to contacts, there is high compliance with Level 4 requirements. So thank you. Sticking together beats the virus and together, that's exactly what we are going to do. Happy to take questions.
11 additional community cases; 6 new cases and 2 historical cases in managed isolation facilities
Media release
19 August 2021
There are 11 new cases of COVID-19 in the community to confirm. This brings the total number of community cases at this stage to 21. All cases are being transferred safely to an Auckland isolation facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.
Twelve cases are confirmed as part of the Auckland cluster, a further eight are currently being investigated and are as yet unlinked. One of the cases is an international airline crew member already in the public arena and is unlikely to be linked to the current community outbreak.
Public health officials are conducting interviews to establish how these new cases were infected and to determine further details of their movements. We will release this information as it becomes available.
Two of the community cases were taken to North Shore Hospital overnight on Wednesday, both are in a stable condition.
These new community cases are not unexpected and these numbers are expected to grow because of the large number of locations of interest, and the large numbers of people who were at these exposure events.
*5 August
Australia
Direct
Day 12/routine
Auckland
5 August
Belgium
UAE
Day 12/routine
Auckland
*5 August
Australia
Direct
Day 12/routine
Auckland
*5 August
Australia
Direct
Day 12/routine
Auckland
11 August
UAE
Direct
Day 6/routine
Auckland
17 August
Tanzania
UAE
Day 0/routine
Auckland
*These cases are in a travel bubble together.
There are two historical cases to report today. One person who arrived on 13 August from Serbia and Montenegro via United Arab Emirates was confirmed during a routine day zero test. The second arrived on 12 August from South Africa via United Arab Emirates was confirmed during a day three routine test. Both are currently in a quarantine facility in Christchurch.
Whole Genome Sequencing
Whole genome sequencing of the community cases that have been sequenced are a close match to a recent returnee from Sydney who arrived on a managed red zone flight on August 7, was tested and returned a positive result on the 9 August. They were transferred from the Crowne Plaza to the Jet Park that same day.
This person subsequently became unwell and was moved to Middlemore Hospital on the 16 August.
This information provides a strong lead in identifying how this outbreak may have started.
We still expect case numbers to increase before they taper. So we need to be prepared for that. But today we have uncovered a likely source, and that means our ability to circle the virus, lock it down and stamp it out has greatly improved. Contact tracing
Public health staff across New Zealand are now engaged in contact tracing work in Auckland and the Coromandel.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service, alongside the Ministry’s National Investigation and Tracing Centre and all of the country’s public health units, are working hard to investigate community cases, identify their contacts, tracing those contacts, and ensuring they’re in isolation and tested.
Isolation, when in alert level 4, means isolating themselves from other household members.
As of this morning, more than 360 individual contacts have been identified. This number excludes contacts from large settings, such as Avondale College and the Central Auckland Church of Christ, which are still being assessed. The total number is expected to increase significantly this afternoon as more contacts are identified, tests taken, and test results received.
Details of additional locations of interest identified have been added to the Ministry’s website this morning. This will be update progressively as further locations of interest are identified.
The Ministry’s website will also include advice on what to do if you were at any of these locations at the time when you could potentially have been exposed. Text message alerts are being sent to people who scanned in using the COVID-19 Tracer App at locations during the relevant times.
If you were at a location of interest, please self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing.
Crowne Plaza
A bubble of three people in the Crowne Plaza MIQ facility tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. It was day 12 of their stay in MIQ. These returnees were in a room adjacent to the positive case from NSW under investigation as the index case in the current Auckland community cluster for period that he was at the Crowne Plaza.
As a precautionary measure, a hold on some departures at the MIQ Crown Plaza hotel in Auckland was put in place last night.
Returnees on the same floor who were scheduled to leave, are required to stay while Auckland public health officials investigate this matter, including reviewing CCTV footage and running whole genome sequencing on samples from the three new cases.
We appreciate this will be disruptive for those asked to stay and we will support them as much as possible.
Wastewater
We have now received the results of wastewater collected on Monday and Tuesday.
Sampling collected on 16 August returned positive results for wastewater from three Auckland sites: Rosedale WWTP (Auckland North Shore), Western and Eastern Interceptors. Sampling from 17 August at the St George site in Auckland, which is a subcatchment of the Western Interceptor which collects wastewater from the Waitakere area was also positive.
This follows negative results from the Auckland sites from a sample taken on 11 August.
We are expecting further results late today from some samples taken around the Auckland region with additional results expected tomorrow from other Auckland sites, as well as the results of samples taken from several locations in the Coromandel and Thames district.
Wastewater testing at the new sites announced on Monday (Whangarei, Gisborne, Tauranga, Mt Maunganui, Taupo, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill) will increase from once a week to twice a week.
Sampling undertaken on Monday and Tuesday at Mt Maunganui, Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua, Gisborne, Taupo, New Plymouth, Napier, Porirua, Hutt Valley, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Queenstown and Invercargill have all come back negative.
Testing
Our advice remains the same - please get tested if you have visited a location of interest or have cold and flu symptoms.
Yesterday testing centres in Auckland had their busiest day since August last year. Almost 16,000 community tests were performed across Auckland yesterday, with more than 6,000 at community testing centres and around 10,000 at general practice and urgent care clinics
There are 10 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland today including four new pop-up community testing centres yesterday at Narrow Neck, St Lukes, Wairau Valley and Albany.
All community testing centres in Auckland are continuing to operate extended hours and will remain open until 8pm today.
Another pop-up testing centre will open in Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga this afternoon, once confirmed these details will be available on the Auckland Regional Public Health website.
The total number of COVID-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,584,336.
Yesterday, 12,885 tests were processed across New Zealand.
The seven-day rolling average is 5,966.
Section 70
A Section 70 has been issued for household contacts of a person who has been at a NZ location of interest. This is for the purpose of preventing further outbreak or spread of COVID-19, which is considered to be a significant risk to the public.
The direction applies to any person who is a household contact of a person who has attended the locations of interest at the times and dates as set out in Schedule 1 or who has been classified as a contact.
These people are required to isolate or quarantine at their usual place of residence (which for visitors, includes accommodation), except as required to report and submit for testing, until the person who has been at a location of interest has received a negative day five test or until after an earlier negative test if contact between the two people has ceased.
There is a separate Section 70 notice that applies to household contacts of those who have been at locations of interest. They are required to isolate until the household member has returned a negative day-five test result.
It is very important that essential workers regularly check the locations of interest so they can isolate immediately if they have been at any of these locations at the relevant time(s).
Failure or refusal to comply with this direction is an offence under s 72 of the Health Act 1956.
Vaccination update
More than 2.61 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to date (to 11.59pm on 18 August). Of these, 1.65 million are first doses and 954,000 are second doses.
Nearly 144,000 Mâori have received their first vaccination. Of these, nearly 88,000 have also had their second vaccinations.
More than 96,000 doses have been administered to Pacific peoples. Of these, around 60,000 have also received their second doses.
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,948,521 registered users.
Poster scans have reached 325,835,903 and users have created 13,242,050 manual diary entries.
zThere have been 758,658 scans in the 24 hours to midday yesterday.
35 additional community cases of COVID-19; 3 new cases in managed isolation facilities
Media release
23 August 2021
There are 35 new cases of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community to confirm today. Of these 33 are in Auckland and two are in Wellington.
This brings the total number of cases in the community outbreak to 107.
All of the cases have or are being transferred safely to a managed isolation facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.
As previously indicated, it’s not unexpected to see a rise in daily case numbers at this stage. At its peak last year, New Zealand had a daily total of 89 new cases.
The total number of community cases in Auckland is now 99 and Wellington’s number of community cases has increased to eight.
Of the 107 cases in the cluster, 72 are already epidemiologically linked to other community cases identified in the outbreak. Investigations are continuing to determine whether and how the remaining 35 cases are linked to the outbreak, however most have a plausible link on initial assessment. For example, people were at a location of interest. We will continue to release this information and new locations of interest as it becomes available.
ESR also continues to run whole genome sequencing on cases. Yesterday 29 samples were sequenced and all were confirmed as being linked to the Auckland outbreak.
There are three new cases in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities.
5 August *
Belgium
Full travel history to be confirmed
Contact of a case
Auckland
5 August *
Belgium
Full travel history to be confirmed
Contact of a case
Auckland
17 August
Singapore
Full travel history to be confirmed
Unknown
Christchurch
*These cases are in a family travel bubble
The total number of active cases being managed in New Zealand is currently 154.
Since 1 January 2021, there have been 123 historical cases, out of a total of 880 cases.
Our total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is 2,698.
Testing
Yesterday, 35,766 tests were processed across New Zealand.
Testing centres in Auckland had another busy day yesterday with just over 17,000 swabs taken across Auckland, with around 11,000 at community testing centres and around 6,000 at general practice and urgent care clinics. This was our biggest day to date at our community testing centres.
If you were at a location of interest, at the specified times, or have cold and flu symptoms, please call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing.
By calling Healthline for advice on testing, people who have been at locations of interest at relevant times are logged into the contact tracing system. This means their swab can be tracked and processed faster by the laboratories.
There are 16 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland this afternoon, including a new site at Pukekohe.
More than 3,850 tests were processed yesterday for Wellington and the Hutt Valley with 11 community testing centres operating, and around 32 GPs open for testing.
District Health Boards remain focussed on meeting testing demand and standing up additional testing centres if, and when, needed.
When you go for a test, please wear a mask, scan in to the QR codes located on site and if possible take your NHI number with you. This is likely to speed up the process.
You’ll be able to find your NHI number of a hospital letter, a prescription or prescription receipt. The Ministry has also established a new 0800 number to find out - 0800 855 066.
The total number of COVID-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,727,853.
The seven-day rolling average is 23,721.
Wastewater testing
ESR is today collecting wastewater samples from sites throughout New Zealand for testing. There are no new findings to report today.
Yesterday we reported COVID-19 had continued to be detected at Moa Point in Wellington and in the Auckland region, but that samples taken from other sites in Wellington at Porirua, Seaview and Karori and now from the North Shore at Rosedale and Albany, were negative.
Samples taken on Friday and Saturday returned no other unexpected detections anywhere else in the country.
ESR continues to test wastewater at 41 sites across the country, covering 3.7 million New Zealanders. Of the 41 current sites, 13 are in Auckland and four are in Wellington. ESR is in the process of adding additional sites.
Contact tracing
Public health staff across New Zealand continue to contact trace, with a focus on higher risk locations.
The number of contacts has increased significantly. This is something we expected as we identify more cases and test in large numbers.
As of 8am today, 13,230 individual contacts have been identified – and this number will increase throughout the day, as records are fully processed.
The majority of these contacts are close contacts.
Of these contacts, 6,773 have been contacted by public health staff and are self-isolating, and 42% have had a test.
Work is underway to contact the remaining 6,457 contacts.
Locations of interest
We are continuing to add locations of interest as interviews from confirmed cases completed by public health staff.
There are now more than 280 locations of interest listed on the Ministry’s website.
Of these, 11 locations of interest are in Wellington, a few are scattered across the North Island and the rest are located in Auckland. There are also two flights between Auckland Wellington.
We will continue to update this regularly. There is now an interactive map that makes it easier to identify locations of interest, and you can also search locations.
The Ministry’s website also includes advice on what to do if you were at any of these locations at the time when you could potentially have been exposed. Alerts are being sent to people who scanned in using the COVID-19 Tracer App at locations during the relevant times.
If you were at a location of interest at the specified time, please self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing.
Crowne Plaza investigation update
Public health officials are continuing to investigate those who used the atrium thoroughfare at the Crowne Plaza while the earliest identified case was in the lobby, as there is a possibility of air flow between the two spaces.
A total of six people walked in the open walkway while the case was in the lobby, of those four have been identified and three have tested negative and one person is in the process of getting a test. There are two people still to be identified, which Police are assisting with.
This throughfare is located inside the Crowne Plaza building and is not the outside walkway which is used to access the Huawei Centre.
It has been confirmed the case was indoors while a very small number of people walked in the open walkway, which is well ventilated.
Section 70 Notices
We’re reminding people that a Section 70 notice remains in place, placing a legal requirement on all people who were at locations of interest at the relevant times to follow the instructions regarding isolation and testing.
It is also very important that essential workers regularly check the locations of interest so they can isolate immediately and get tested if they have been at any of these locations at the relevant times.
Another Section 70 notice is in place, applying that to household members of those who have been at locations of interest or have been categorised as a close contact. These household members are required to isolate until the contact has returned a negative day-five test result.
Household members are not required to be tested unless they develop symptoms.
The requirements of this second notice do not apply to people who are required to provide an essential health service as long as they are vaccinated, the household member who visited the location of interest has had a negative result, and no one in the house has symptoms.
COVID-19 vaccine update
Yesterday, we administered 35,800 doses nationally. This was made up of 26,835 first doses, and 8,965 second doses.
More than 2.78 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to date (to 11.59pm on 22 August).
Of these, 1.77 million are first doses and more than one million are second doses.
More than 156,000 Mâori have received their first vaccination. Of these, more than 92,000 have also had their second vaccinations.
More than 103,000 doses have been administered to Pacific peoples. Of these, more than 63,000 have also received their second doses.
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 3,026,123 registered users.
Poster scans have reached 327,988,169 and users have created 13,896,382 manual diary entries.
There have been 477,029 scans in the 24 hours to midday yesterday.
“It’s really pleasing to see we’ve hit three million users on the NZ COVID Tracer App. Thank you to everyone who has become a user of the app and to those who continue to scan QR codes to keep a record of where they’ve been.
"Over the past week we’ve seen how important these records have become – making it easier for contact tracers as we all work to keep New Zealanders safe from COVID-19,” says Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
41 additional community cases of COVID-19; one new case in managed isolation facilities
Media release
24 August 2021
There are 41 new cases of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community to confirm today. This brings the total number of cases in the community outbreak to 148.
Of these 41 new cases, 19 are female and 22 are male. 31 of these are Pacific peoples, three are Asian and seven are European.
The total number of community cases in Auckland is now 137 and 11 in Wellington.
All of the cases have or are being transferred safely to a managed isolation facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.
As previously indicated, it’s not unexpected to see a rise in daily case numbers at this stage. At its peak last year, New Zealand had a daily total of 89 new cases.
There are currently 9 hospitalisations, of which 8 are associated with the current outbreak (7 related to community transmission and 1 border-related).
Of the 148 cases in the cluster, 89 are already epidemiologically linked to other community cases identified in the outbreak. Investigations are continuing to determine whether and how the remaining 59 cases are linked to the outbreak. There are currently 6 epidemiologically-linked subclusters identified within this outbreak. The two largest clusters are the Birkdale Social Network cluster associated with Case A (approximately 23 confirmed cases) and a cluster associated with the AOG church in Mangere (approximately 58 cases). We will continue to release this information and new locations of interest as it becomes available.
There is one new case in recent returnees in a managed isolation facility.
New Zealand's Covid Cases Jump As It Battles Delta Variant
Coronavirus: Health authorities reported 45 new cases, all in the biggest city, Auckland, taking the total number of cases in the current outbreak to 1,230.
Reuters Updated: September 29, 2021 3:10 pm IST
Wellington:
New Zealand's daily coronavirus cases jumped to their highest level in weeks on Wednesday, a setback to the South Pacific nation's battle to eliminate the highly infectious Delta variant from its shores.
Health authorities reported 45 new cases, all in the biggest city, Auckland, taking the total number of cases in the current outbreak to 1,230.
It's much higher than the eight reported on Tuesday, and the highest number of daily cases since Sept 2.
Hipkins said at least 33 of the new cases are known household or close contacts of existing cases and most have been isolating at home or in quarantine facilities while infectious.
"I would encourage people not to read too much into it. We are still aiming to run this into the ground," Hipkins said at a news conference.
The continuing emergence of daily cases has raised questions whether New Zealand can eliminate the virus.
A top health official said last week that the country may never be back to zero cases again...
New Zealand’s government has acknowledged what most other countries did long ago: It can no longer completely get rid of the coronavirus.
New Zealand admits it can no longer get rid of coronavirus
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a cautious plan to ease lockdown restrictions in Auckland, despite an outbreak there that continues to simmer.
Since early in the pandemic, New Zealand had pursued an unusual zero-tolerance approach to the virus through strict lockdowns and aggressive contact tracing.
...
The outbreak has grown to more than 1,300 cases, with 29 more detected on Monday. A few cases have been found outside of Auckland.
..
But Ardern said that most measures would remain in place to keep the outbreak under control, including exhaustive contact tracing and isolating those who got infected.
"The only security we have is our ability to adapt."
The country has seen a rapid uptick in protests and online disinformation, tinged with far-right undertones
Anti-vaccine mandate protests in New Zealand have seen odd blends of factions and allegiances. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
The signs and slogans proffered by the crowds presented an odd blend of factions and allegiances – tino rangatiratanga [Māori sovereignty] flags alongside Nazi imagery, anti-vaccine mottoes, evangelical preachers, those calling for the prime minister’s arrest and execution. Hannah says that same blend is what researchers are seeing online – where the rhetoric and networks of vaccine-scepticism are acting as a “Trojan horse” for more extreme ideologies.
Covid-19 is creeping across New Zealand – and “a lot more” spread is expected when Auckland opens back up.
As of Friday, there are active cases in 11 of the country’s 20 district health boards, including all four corners of the North Island.
The spread of the virus has picked up in the past week, having previously been largely confined to Auckland, Northland and Waikato. This week alone, new cases have been detected in Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Taupō, Palmerston North, Masterton, and now potentially in Wellington.
"The only security we have is our ability to adapt."
NZ WARRIORS BRING THE HEAT New Zealand’s government has imposed some of the strictest restrictions and mandates in the world, and Kiwi’s are fighting back with an ancient Maori war dance, The Haka. #TheHaka #Maori #JacindaArdern #BrianTamaki POSTED: November 16, 2021
NZ WARRIORS BRING THE HEAT
New Zealand’s government has imposed some of the strictest restrictions and mandates in the world, and Kiwi’s are fighting back with an ancient Maori war dance, The Haka.
"...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party
(My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.) Never forget Excalibur.
New COVID-19 cases reported each day
New COVID-19 cases reported each day
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