Two new cases, no deaths

The Government is forking out as much as about $14 million to fly Kiwis home on repatriation flights. Official documents from a meeting of the Covid-19 Ministerial Group on April 16 note repatriations carried out to date, at that time, had been expensive and resource intensive and the Government could not bring home all New Zealanders. They also cite evidence of Kiwis in Europe waiting to ‘‘take advantage’’ of the flights, rather than pay for an expensive commercial flight home. The documents reveal the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) estimated the cost of repatriation charter flights was likely to be in the order of $10m to $14m. The documents were released yesterday, alongside hundreds of others about the Covid-19 response. To date, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has refused to put a dollar figure on the cost, recently stating it was ‘‘millions and millions’’.

Blood products taken from recovered Kiwi coronavirus patients could be used to treat others seriously affected by the disease. Yesterday, the New Zealand Blood Service started contacting those who have fully recovered from the illness to discuss whether they would be willing to donate their plasma for treatments. Plasma contains antibodies to the infection a person has recovered from, and can be used to help others fight off the same infection. The process, known as convalescent plasma, is not new — it has been used since the 1920s and in recent years was part of the fight against SARS, H1N1 influenza and other viruses. Chief medical officer at the New Zealand Blood Service, Sarah Morley, said it was pleased to be able to help New Zealand in the fight against Covid-19. The service was working closely with regional public health services.

Director of public health Dr Caroline McElnay announced two new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand yesterday.

One is a nurse linked to St Margaret’s Hospital in Auckland who had been looking after rest home patients, and the other was a probable case that has now been confirmed.

The combined total of confirmed and probable cases is 1490, an increase of one, as the other has been recategorised. There were no new deaths but three people are in hospital.

A total of 175,835 tests have been carried out, and 1347 people (90 per cent of cases) have recovered.

The recent drop in case numbers was ‘‘very reassuring’’, McElnay said.

Cases could be linked back to existing cases or clusters, but they were continuing to keep a close eye on any cases to identify ‘‘patterns of disease’’.

‘‘Play it safe, we do not want a second wave. What you are doing in level three is working,’’ McElnay said.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said they were doing everything they could to mitigate the effects of job losses.

The week ending May 1 saw 4021 people accessing the jobseeker benefit.

The goal was to keep the unemployment rate as low as possible. The wage subsidy scheme had helped, but the rate would go up, he said, and they were trying to mitigate it as best they could.

The benefits of moving down alert levels

‘‘Play it safe, we do not want a second wave. What you are doing in level three is working.’’

Dr Caroline McElnay

was clear in terms of business, but these low case numbers posed a warning to keep up the good work. ‘‘We do not want to yo-yo between levels. We have to stay the course.’’

The Budget to be released next week was ‘‘just one moment on our road to recovery,’’ he said.

Normally the Budget represented the entirety of a government’s planned spending for the year ahead, but this was not the case this year.

It would give Kiwis a sense of direction, and provide support to public services.

Robertson then put on his ‘‘sports minister’s hat’’ and said the return to sport and recreation needed to be managed carefully.

Sports bodies, like those for netball and rugby, would take time to meet all public health guidelines, and the Government was working with them to make this possible.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed on Thursday what the country could expect

Director of public health

with a drop to alert level two including reopening of schools, shops and restaurants with restrictions. The Government will decide on Monday whether the country will drop to level two or remain at level three.

When asked about South African repatriation flights, Robertson said an arrangement with Qatar Airways went south and the airline cancelled a number of flights that were scheduled.

All options to get Kiwis home were being examined, and MFAT was working on returning Kiwis from all around the world.

Air New Zealand has been under fire this week for failing to follow distancing rules on flights. Robertson said the airline understood the importance of physical distancing and would be implementing it dependent on the type of plane.

Smaller planes might make that ‘‘a little bit more challenging’’.

When asked about the cuts to ministers’ salaries, Robertson said Government was in the process of finalising legislation that would allow for it.

‘‘The commitment to take that 20 per cent cut absolutely remains.’’