Alert Level 3- Day 1: 3 new cases reported bringing NZ total to 1472
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced 3 new cases today bringing NZ total cases to 1472.
1472 comprises of 2 confirmed and 1 probable cases.
He said the two confirmed cases had been traced to a known source - one has been linked to the Marist cluster in Auckland, and the other linked to the Gladys Mary Care Home in Hawke's Bay.
The probable case - which is in South Canterbury - is still being investigated.
The number of confirmed cases, which is reported to the World Health organisation, is 1124.
The death toll in the country remains 19 as no further deaths were reported.
1214 people have recovered from the 1472 cases, 34 from yesterday. Almost 82% of all Covid-19 cases have recovered in New Zealand. The new recovered patients are symptom-free for at least 48 hours.
9 people are in hospital and 1 in ICU.
2146 tests were conducted yesterday, a total of 126,066 tests have been done so far.
Dr Bloomfield today restated that the goal of elimination was not that Covid-19 is completely eradicated, but that the country has a small number of cases, knows exactly where the cases come from, and can quickly contact trace all the cases.
"We have made good progress to arrive at level 3, but we are by no means in the clear. Elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort to keep it out and stamp it out over many months."
He said like many people he had enjoyed a takeaway coffee this morning, but it was not an excuse to congregate outside cafes and eateries.
"Please do maintain the physical distancing that will be imperative in alert level 3.
"We do not want to see the sorts of rebound that we have seen in other countries."
He said the eventual goal was that there were effective treatments or a vaccine, but until then, the goal of elimination was what will see the country through.
Dr Bloomfield said the country was "well on the way" to achieving the three recommendations identified by Dr Ayesha Verrall in her audit of New Zealand's contact tracing capabilities.
"In terms of those indicators, I think the critical one is the one around the timeliness of contacting people who are identified as close contacts.
"Data from the public health units ... showed that they were contacting and tracing 80 percent of close contacts within 48 hours, and the benchmark there is actually 72 hours."
He said he did not think the information from the Ministry regarding community transmission was misleading.
"Just to be more specific about the origin of cases. Some cases it will be community transmission but related to a known case or cluster even if we don't know where that case or cluster came from originally. In other cases - in a small number - we are not able to make that link. Most of those aside from two are pre the first of April, so four weeks ago now, and so they will be the ones that are contributing to that overall percentage that are community transmission."
More to come.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced 3 new cases today bringing NZ total cases to 1472.
1472 comprises of 2 confirmed and 1 probable cases.
He said the two confirmed cases had been traced to a known source - one has been linked to the Marist cluster in Auckland, and the other...
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced 3 new cases today bringing NZ total cases to 1472.
1472 comprises of 2 confirmed and 1 probable cases.
He said the two confirmed cases had been traced to a known source - one has been linked to the Marist cluster in Auckland, and the other linked to the Gladys Mary Care Home in Hawke's Bay.
The probable case - which is in South Canterbury - is still being investigated.
The number of confirmed cases, which is reported to the World Health organisation, is 1124.
The death toll in the country remains 19 as no further deaths were reported.
1214 people have recovered from the 1472 cases, 34 from yesterday. Almost 82% of all Covid-19 cases have recovered in New Zealand. The new recovered patients are symptom-free for at least 48 hours.
9 people are in hospital and 1 in ICU.
2146 tests were conducted yesterday, a total of 126,066 tests have been done so far.
Dr Bloomfield today restated that the goal of elimination was not that Covid-19 is completely eradicated, but that the country has a small number of cases, knows exactly where the cases come from, and can quickly contact trace all the cases.
"We have made good progress to arrive at level 3, but we are by no means in the clear. Elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort to keep it out and stamp it out over many months."
He said like many people he had enjoyed a takeaway coffee this morning, but it was not an excuse to congregate outside cafes and eateries.
"Please do maintain the physical distancing that will be imperative in alert level 3.
"We do not want to see the sorts of rebound that we have seen in other countries."
He said the eventual goal was that there were effective treatments or a vaccine, but until then, the goal of elimination was what will see the country through.
Dr Bloomfield said the country was "well on the way" to achieving the three recommendations identified by Dr Ayesha Verrall in her audit of New Zealand's contact tracing capabilities.
"In terms of those indicators, I think the critical one is the one around the timeliness of contacting people who are identified as close contacts.
"Data from the public health units ... showed that they were contacting and tracing 80 percent of close contacts within 48 hours, and the benchmark there is actually 72 hours."
He said he did not think the information from the Ministry regarding community transmission was misleading.
"Just to be more specific about the origin of cases. Some cases it will be community transmission but related to a known case or cluster even if we don't know where that case or cluster came from originally. In other cases - in a small number - we are not able to make that link. Most of those aside from two are pre the first of April, so four weeks ago now, and so they will be the ones that are contributing to that overall percentage that are community transmission."
More to come.
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