Variants coming in through airport
Recent wastewater testing shows Southland and Otago have among the highest concentrations of new Covid-19 genomes popping up in the country.
However, University of Otago (Wellington) epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker explained that this was simply because the Southern district was home to an international airport in Queenstown, where new variants would be entering the community through the border.
The Institute of Environmental Science and Research’s (ESR) latest draft Covid-19 genomics insights dashboard, dated July 21, showed high frequencies of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing in the Southern district, Canterbury/West Coast and Auckland.
The Omicron outbreak began in Auckland, Baker said – where most international arrivals were coming through the border – and spread slowly through the country.
‘‘Now things are different because we have more international airports and all of New Zealand is being seeded quite rapidly,’’ he said.
Currently, international arrivals are required to take rapid antigen tests, which are followed up with PCR tests should they return positive results.
It was not a system designed to stop new variants, Baker said, but it did give health authorities an idea of which mutations were coming into the country.
Meanwhile, Health New Zealand Southern is asking Covid-19 patients and their household contacts to call Healthline or 111 before visiting emergency departments.
Treating Covid-19 positive patients separately was putting pressure on hospitals, including the ED, a spokesperson said, especially when there were high numbers of hospitalisations throughout the district.
‘‘Please keep emergency departments for emergencies,’’ the spokesperson said.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation yesterday criticised the Government for not addressing staffing shortages after Southern students were asked to do the work of qualified nurses.
The students were asked to do patient-watch work at Dunedin Hospital, in exchange for $200 Countdown vouchers, because of dire nursing shortages, the organisation said.
NZNO student representative Manu Reiri said: ‘‘A hospital resorting to this, against its own better judgment out of desperation, indicates just how critical the situation is.’’
Self-reported Covid-19 cases in Southland and Otago rose from 541 on Monday to 767 yesterday when there were 49 patients with Covid-19 in Southern hospitals – up from 41 the day before.
Of these, 24 patients were in Dunedin Hospital where two patients were in ICU and one was on ventilation, 16 were in Southland Hospital, one was in Maniototo, one was in Oamaru and seven were in Dunstan.