Do your bit and get tested, PM urges 367
Leaders plead with last of the group who left isolation testless to front
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and health director general Ashley Bloomfield are urging the remaining 367 people who left 14 days managed isolation after June 9 without a test to keep their side of the deal and front up.
“Do your bit,” said Ardern. “Get back in contact. It’s a small thing you can do as a member of our team of five million.”
Bloomfield said tomorrow would be the last day he’d give daily reports on the numbers identified as having left isolation on June 9 without a test.
Of the 1359, most have been contacted and tested negative or referred for a test; 142 will not be tested including 84 who have refused a test; and 367 people have not responded to repeated contact, including 56 who have been referred to fining services for having an invalid phone number.
“We’ve gone to extra effort to make contact,” said Bloomfield. “And the next step is for people to keep their side of the deal.”
Since April 9 arrivals have been required to go into managed isolation or stricter quarantine for suspected or confirmed cases and are now not allowed to leave without a negative test.
No new cases were reported yesterday by the Ministry of Health, the second day in a row, meaning the number of active cases remained at 22.
They are all in managed isolation or quarantine — with only one person in Auckland City Hospital in a stable condition. There is no known community transmission.
Bloomfield said NZ would be watching the new outbreak in Melbourne where parts of the city have been put into lockdown for the next month.
“We have worked very closely with Australia and will continue to do so,” he said.
“We will watch the latest development closely to see how this approach and the measures they are putting in place, such as localised lockdowns, play out.”
The outbreak is thought to have been spread by security guards at a quarantine facility.
Air New Zealand has suspended flights to Melbourne.
Ardern said the fact the outbreak in Victoria happened from quarantine showed how “tricky” Covid-19 was.
“We will all battle this ongoing pandemic for some time to come,” she said.
“For all New Zealanders, it means remaining on guard.”
The National Party health spokesman, Michael Woodhouse, yesterday told Parliament doctors were confused about changes to the ministry case definition for Covid-19.
He said he was aware of a GP practice in East Auckland which had referred 40 patients to a community-based assessment centre in Botany but only three had been tested and 37 had been turned away.
That was contrary to Ardern’s previous message two months ago which was to get a test even if you only had a sniffle or a sore throat.
Woodhouse said he did not have an issue if the criteria for testing had narrowed. But he said there needed to be clarity for doctors.
Health Minister David Clark said the Government’s position had not changed. “If anyone has symptoms of Covid19, including a sniffle or sore throat, they should seek advice about a test from Healthline or their general practice.”
People who had symptoms but were not considered to meet a new higher index of suspicion would not be automatically required to selfisolate until the results came back, as they had been before.
Testing on Tuesday had totalled 4530, taking the overall number of tests to 402,000.
The next step is for people to keep their side of the deal.
Ashley Bloomfield director general of health