Guidelines broadened for testing

‘‘Test, test, test,’’ that’s the message from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as the Government continues its effort to eradicate Covid-19.

Yesterday, the Government broadened guidelines around Covid-19 testing, which will allow for more people to be tested and to see how far the disease has spread in New Zealand. There had been complaints that some people presenting Covid-19 symptoms had not been tested because they had no connection to overseas travel.

‘‘I would keep encouraging that we test, test, test,’’ Ardern said.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield gave a similar message to Parliament’s new epidemic response committee. He said testing was ramping up and that in the future he would like surveillance testing of communities to determine how much community transmission had occurred.

‘‘We don’t believe we have enough testing to tell us what we need to know. The more we test, the more it tells us how far our community transmission is and it tells us where it is,’’ Ardern said.

Yesterday, the Government broadened the criteria for testing, after a meeting of its technical advisory group, which sets the criteria for people to be tested.

The new definition ‘‘will widen testing to include people with Covid-19 symptoms but not necessarily a history of travel or exposure to another case,’’ Ardern said.

Clinicians have had some discretion to test people who fell outside those criteria if they felt it necessary. The average daily tests across the last week is 1777 and 21,384 tests conduced in total.

‘‘I do expect the number of tests in New Zealand to grow, and it needs to grow,’’ she said.

Testing has been a hallmark of successful efforts in some countries, notably South Korea, in fighting Covid-19.

‘‘I want more tests, we built the capacity for more tests and more tests will help us get a better picture of the spread of Covid-19 in New Zealand,’’ Ardern said.

The number of Covid-19 cases in New Zealand has not grown as quickly as the Government initially feared. There were 58 new confirmed or probable cases since Monday, bringing the nation’s total to 647.

Bloomfield cautioned that while the number of new cases had stabilised recently, New Zealand was far from being on top of the outbreak.

Ardern also announced that supermarkets will stay open on Easter Sunday this year, after the Government relaxed Easter trading rules. But the exemption has not been extended to Good Friday.

Staff working at supermarkets will be able to volunteer to work over the holiday break and will not be obliged to work.

Ardern also stressed that people should continue to be kind to supermarket workers during the lockdown.

‘‘The more we test, the more it tells us how far our community transmission is.’’ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern