Masks to be made compulsory on flights

AUCKLAND: Masks will be mandatory for everyone travelling on domestic flights and for Aucklanders using public transport as early as Thursday.

Until then, New Zealanders are being urged to act as if face coverings are already compulsory despite the mystery lifting about the source of the latest community Covid19 case.

After a little over 24 hours, Auckland’s CBD was yesterday shifted out of its quasilockdown thanks to genomic testing proving the community case, an AUT student, was infected by the New Zealand Defence Force serviceman from the quarantine cluster.

The chain of transmission is still being investigated.

The genomes from Case A — the serviceman who caught the virus in the Jet Park quarantine facility — and Case D — the AUT student — were identical, which is consistent with direct transmission between the two.

That does not exclude the possibility of someone else being in the chain but officials are confident the timeframe suggests there was not a long chain of transmission involving a lot of people.

There were no other positive cases of Covid19 in the community yesterday despite more than 7200 tests being processed, including more than 100 from the woman's Vincent Residences apartment building.

As a precaution, everyone who visited one of the locations of interest is being asked to get a test regardless of whether they have symptoms.

The infected AUT student works just 82m from a cafe the defence worker visited but extensive interviews have not uncovered an obvious connection.

Covid19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins will move next week to make masks mandatory on planes and on public transport in Auckland.

The public health order is being drafted and will be presented to Cabinet on Monday with the support of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Once agreed and gazetted it will take 48 hours to come into effect which means it could be in place by Thursday morning.

Mask use will initially be mandated on all domestic flights and public transport in Auckland but it is likely other areas which have MIQ facilities or international airports will be included in the order later.

The order is similar to the one issued in August requiring mask use under Alert Level 2, when children and those with medical conditions were exempt.

It is understood the Government will encourage a lighthanded approach to enforcement with a focus on educating rulebreakers before issuing the instant $300 fine.

Mr Hipkins was questioned yesterday about why it took a nearcrisis for the Government to heed the advice of expert epidemiologists who have long been calling for massmasking.

He replied that advice was continuously being reviewed.

Infectious diseases expert Prof Michael Baker welcomed the move but said he was surprised it took so long to be brought in.

‘‘We’re probably one of the last countries in the world to adopt massmasking, so it is a bit out of step with the other aspects of our response . . .’’

Prof Baker also wants a wider review of the alert levels which have not been adjusted since March and would like to see a Level 1.5 with massmasking which would heighten awareness but still enable society to function.

‘‘The current system really is far too crude.’’

Mr Hipkins announced yesterday he was considering requiring some events and venues to make it mandatory for patrons to sign in upon entry.

Those are likely to be large gatherings and hospitality venues where physical distancing is not possible.

In the interim he has urged businesses to ensure QR codes were visible and encourage their customers to be vigilant with scanning QR codes in the Covid Tracer app.

Data from the Ministry of Health showed fewer than one in six of the 2.3 million users of the app use it daily.

It was revealed there was another breakdown in communication between Mr Hipkins and health workers on the ground.

Mr Hipkins said he had expected public health protection officers would be at the Vincent Residences, where the AUT student lives, on Thursday evening but it became apparent yesterday morning that had not happened.

Mr Hipkins said the risk for those in the apartments was ‘‘relatively low’’ and noone had yet returned a positive result but it ‘‘would have been nice’’ if security had been there ‘‘right the way through’’.

‘‘As soon as I became aware of that I got on the phone and made sure that happened.’’ — The New Zealand Herald