Warning tempers positive case data

NO new Covid19 cases in the South for three successive days is encouraging, but ‘‘complacency is the enemy’’, an expert says.

While there were no new cases in the Southern District Health Board area yesterday, five new probable and confirmed cases were reported elsewhere in New Zealand.

A woman in her 70s, who lived in a West Auckland resthome, had died, taking the total number of deaths to 13.

Yesterday marked the first run of three days with no cases in the South since the first case in the area was discovered.

The number of confirmed and probable cases in the South remained at 216 — still the highest number of all district health boards.

One person remained in Dunedin Hospital’s intensive care unit, in a stable condition. They had been receiving treatment there for nearly two weeks.

Health board medical officer of health Susan Jack said the lack of new cases was ‘‘very encouraging’’.

‘‘Our numbers have been dwindling, which is really good.

‘‘It doesn’t mean we’re completely out of the woods, but it is a very encouraging sign.’’

It also showed lockdown measures had worked.

After two weeks in Level 3 — which starts at 11.59pm on Monday — officials would have a better idea of whether the country had managed to ‘‘stamp it out’’, Dr Jack said.

However, University of Otago public health professor Michael Baker warned against reading too much into the trend.

‘‘It’s a composite picture. It’s not one thing. Seeing that pattern sustained for quite a long period, that’s what would make us reassured.’’

A key indicator would be whether chains of transmission started occurring again within the community as alert levels changed.

‘‘Complacency is the real enemy.’’

The Bluff wedding cluster remained the largest of the 16 clusters in New Zealand.

Two new cases had been linked to it, taking the total number of cases in the cluster to 98.

As of yesterday, 61 of them had recovered.

There were no new cases linked to the World Hereford Conference held in Queenstown.

❛ It doesn’t mean we’re completely out of the woods, but it is a very encouraging sign