Crisis not over: top doctor clarifies ‘elimination’

WELLINGTON: Directorgeneral of health Ashley Bloomfield has had to clarify comments he and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made about the country having achieved elimination of Covid19.

New Zealand has been hailed in international media including The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph as having won the battle in eliminating the virus.

While elimination had been achieved at Level 4, giving Dr Bloomfield the confidence to move the country into Level 3, the war had not been won.

At Monday’s daily media conference, Dr Bloomfield was asked whether New Zealand had achieved elimination.

The confusion arose when he said ‘‘we’ve achieved [elimination] through Alert Level 4’’ and Ms Ardern chipped in to say New

Zealand ‘‘currently’’ had eliminated the virus.

Realising the waters had been muddied, Dr Bloomfield arrived at Parliament yesterday armed with a clarification.

Asked whether he accepted yesterday’s remarks had given the country and the rest of the world a false impression, and whether he was concerned New Zealanders would be feeling relieved at a time they should still be vigilant, Dr Bloomfield was clear.

‘‘I can just clarify we haven’t eliminated it, and we haven’t eradicated it.’’

He said elimination was about having a low number of cases, and a knowledge of where they were coming from and identifying people early.

Then it was a case of stamping out the virus and continuing to maintain strict border restrictions to be sure no new cases were being imported.

Elimination was by no means eradication and Ms Ardern said this was a situation of entering into the world of epidemiologist-speak.

‘‘And they know well what each of these terms mean in a health sense, but of course in an every day sense they mean, often, something different.

‘‘Elimination doesn’t mean zero cases . . . We will have to keep stamping Covid out until there’s a vaccine,’’ she said.

National Party health spokesman Michael Woodhouse said Dr Bloomfield probably felt the need to clarify on behalf of the Prime Minister.

‘‘This underscores the importance of talking in plain English.

‘‘The public are not epidemiologists. They don’t have the same information the Prime Minister has and it’s really important they get on the same page, talk in English, and make it clear to New Zealanders where we’re at and how we’ve got to stay there.’’

Dr Bloomfield’s comments came as three new confirmed and probable cases were announced in New Zealand yesterday.

It was the 10th successive day of no new cases in the Southern District Health Board area.

Of the South’s 216 cases, just 14 were still active.

Nationally, 82% of cases were considered recovered.

Surveillance testing of more than 240 residents in hostel and backpacker accommodation in Queenstown over Anzac weekend also turned up no positive results.

Southern DHB medical officer of health Susan Jack said she was ‘‘increasingly optimistic’’ the disease had been stamped out in the South.

‘‘It’s now been 10 days since the last case was reported in the district, and two weeks since the last person in our district first developed symptoms of the illness.

‘‘I have been cautiously optimistic we have stamped out the disease in our community; now I am increasingly optimistic.

‘‘But we know how quickly everything can change from just one case that might slip through, so I urge everyone to maintain the precautions required in Alert Level 3 to ensure we can continue to build on these good results.’’