Two weeks without a new case

It has been two weeks since a case of coronavirus was reported in Nelson Marlborough.

Nelson Marlborough Health said yesterday that two probable cases had been reclassified as confirmed cases, one in the Nelson region and one in Marlborough.

That meant there were 35 confirmed and 13 probable cases, a total of 48 across the top of the south. Forty-five of those had recovered, with three still being monitored by the public health service.

The Nelson Marlborough region has not recorded a new case since halfway through the lockdown on April 9. The last positive case reported to a Medical Officer of Health had their swab taken on April 3.

In Nelson there are 22 confirmed and five probable cases and in Marlborough there are 13 confirmed and eight probable. All cases are travel-related.

The health board confirmed on Saturday that of the 27 Nelson cases, nine are in Golden Bay.

Nelson Marlborough Health clinical director of public health Dr Stephen Bridgman said at the time there had been ‘‘hundreds of local negative tests since the last positive case, which suggests there is no current local transmission of Covid-19’’.

He said the main risk of transmission in the region was people who returned from other parts of New Zealand where confirmed cases of the virus had continued to rise.

Registered nurse

Victoria

Leov had been working at the Blenheim community-based assessment centre since it was set up last month.

Leov said more people were presenting as the testing criteria widened to anyone with a sore throat or a cough.

The widening of testing criteria has meant nearly everyone who presents to a community assessment facility is tested. On Wednesday in Nelson and Motueka, 82 people were screened and 64 of them were tested.

In Blenheim, 20 people were tested out of the 22 that presented.

A fishing boss is concerned more salmon will die after a hearing on the country’s first ‘‘open ocean’’ salmon farm was delayed by coronavirus.

New Zealand King Salmon was met with mixed responses from submitters after it asked for resource consent to set up a farm in the cold waters off Marlborough, following years of hot summers causing its salmon to die in their pens.

An online hearing set for June has been adjourned to match the ‘‘extraordinary times’’.

NZ King Salmon chief executive Grant Rosewarne said the decision, spurred by submitters, meant the company would need to face more summers in Marlborough Sounds waters, which were heating up. ‘‘That means we have to confront higher mortality rates,’’ he said.

The company would revisit the hearing process after the lockdown ended. It had hoped to build the farm within a 1792-hectare site in the ocean – a New Zealand first. It said the farming operation would take up a small fraction of the site, 7km north of Cape Lambert.

The Marlborough District Council received 56 submissions on the application, with 41 in support, 14 against, and one neutral. Those opposing were concerned it was ‘‘premature’’ due to its ‘‘lack of sufficient information’’ and environmental effects.

Rosewarne said NZ King Salmon would use the additional time to ‘‘hopefully’’ address the concerns of submitters before the hearing.

Council administrator and hearings facilitator Sue BulfieldJohnston said four submitters had asked for the hearing to be postponed, saying they could not collect back-up evidence during the lockdown.

Friends of Nelson Haven and Tasman Bay representative Rob Schuckard also voiced concerns that the video call software was not secure enough, and that his internet connection in the Marlborough Sounds would affect his ability to join a virtual hearing.