Gap seen in new Ak mask rules

AUCKLAND: Top epidemiologist Michael Baker believes there is a gap in the new mandatory mask rules relating to Auckland.

To achieve limited spread of the coronavirus, mask wearing should be compulsory for all residents and visitors in waiting areas before boarding public transport, he said yesterday.

As transport hubs where passengers waited often had more facetoface contact, masks should be worn.

This was a gap that ‘‘should be looked at seriously’’.

Speaking with Air New Zealand staff while boarding a flight on Wednesday, Prof Baker asked staff when they expected passengers to put on their masks.

Staff told him they expected masks to be worn once passengers boarded the plane.

Prof Baker disagreed with this, saying masks were worn to ‘‘limit the spread’’.

When he travelled to Auckland this week there was little mask wearing or social distancing while people waited to board the flight, he said.

But on the flight back to Wellington, he noticed a few more passengers were wearing masks, but it was still a small minority.

On Monday, Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern issued a mandatory order for all Auckland public transport users to wear masks from 11.59pm on Wednesday as the region faced a second outbreak in recent months.

Prof Baker acknowledged the country was ‘‘finetuning its mask wearing’’.

‘‘We are at the early stages of mask wearing.’’

A sailor has tested positive for Covid19 in Samoa, the first case of infection in the country.

The man arrived in Samoa on a repatriation flight from Auckland last Friday and tested positive for the infection on Wednesday, the Samoan Observer reported.

But a second test taken yesterday had come back negative.

There were two new cases of Covid19 in New Zealand yesterday, both in managed isolation, the Health Ministry reported. — The New Zealand Herald