Supermarket sweep

Shoppers targeted for random testing

The Government is bolstering its random Covid-19 targeted testing regime, expanding the initiative to Auckland as it prepares to make a decision on easing lockdown restrictions.

Cabinet will tomorrow make the call on whether New Zealand will come out of level 4 this week.

And on the eve of that decision being made, data shows the number of new Covid-19 cases remains low.

But questions have been raised about the Government’s surveillance system with insiders saying it is outdated, describing it as a “dinosaur”. The Government’s contact tracing ability will be a key part of Ministers thinking when Cabinet meets tomorrow.

The Ministry of Health confirmed yesterday there were 13 new cases of Covid-19 across the country. There were no deaths reported. To get a better snapshot of New Zealand’s position, the Government has increased its random testing regime to include the country’s biggest city — Auckland.

Testing began at 8am yesterday morning at two supermarkets in the region. The aim is to collect 150 swabs at both sites.

A spokeswoman for the ministry said Auckland DHB had agreed not to reveal the supermarkets where the testing was being done, other than the fact the chain had a presence in Mangere and Henderson.

The random testing at the sites was for one day only, the spokeswoman confirmed.

The data officials are able to glean from the sites will be critical for the Government’s lockdown decision.

The random testing, according to Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay, will help provide an “overall picture” of the extent of community transmission, which remains low across the country.

Auckland is the latest city or region for random Covid-19 testing to take place. The targeted testing scheme is already underway in Queenstown, Waikato and Canterbury. And so far it is looking optimistic.

All tests processed from the Queenstown supermarket site returned a negative result.

In Waikato, 308 people were tested across Otorohanga, Hamilton, Matamata, Cambridge, and Te Awamutu. Those tests have all also returned negative results, as did all the tests processed to date from the community testing in Canterbury.

On Friday, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was at pains to point out the Government had a lot more data to look at before Cabinet made its decision on Monday.

“I don’t think we should be getting ahead of ourselves,” he said when asked about the low number of new cases.

He told media there were a number things the Government needed to be sure of before restrictions were eased.

“One of those is [making sure] that we genuinely are breaking the chain of community transmission.”

There is still some work to be done around contact tracing, as well as making sure the health system has all the capacity it needed, Robertson said.

Meanwhile, concerns still remain over MoH’s ability to rapidly trace close contacts of Covid-19. The ministry was provided a report on the shortcomings in its contact tracing last Saturday, but is yet to release it.

The report, by University of Otago infectious diseases physician Ayesha Verrall, was understood to be damning of the ministry’s tracing approach at the time of the audit.

Its delay raises questions as to New Zealand’s level of preparedness when it comes to contact tracing in a level 3 environment.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said on Wednesday he had received Verrall’s report and officials were “furiously” responding to its recommendations.

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I don’t think we should be getting ahead of ourselves.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson