Decision due on Auckland alert status

AUCKLAND: On the eve of the Government’s decision about whether Auckland moves to Alert Level 1, some seemingly good news: there are five new cases of Covid19, but they are all in managed isolation with none in the community.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will announce today whether Auckland returns to Alert Level 1. Any decision will not come into force until Wednesday, she said.

Yesterday morning, Ms Ardern said the country had been tracking as expected but she would not speculate about today’s decision.

‘‘Any decision that is made won’t come into force until Wednesday. That’s because we need to give notice about the rule changes.’’

There were no new community cases to report yesterday.

Of the five people who tested positive, two arrived from Switzerland via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia on September 29. One was from Russia via the United Arab Emirates on September 21, another was from Ukraine on September 29; and another from Australia on September 30.

Two of the returnees are in managed isolation in Auckland. The ministry said one had already been transferred to Auckland’s quarantine facility and arrangements were in place for the second person to be transferred.

The three other returnees are in managed isolation in Rotorua and will also be transferred to Auckland’s quarantine facility.

The total number of confirmed cases of Covid19 is 1498. Five previously reported cases are now considered to have recovered, leaving the total number of active cases effectively unchanged from Saturday at 41.

Of these active cases, 34 are imported cases in MIQ facilities, and seven are community cases.

There was noone in hospital with Covid19 in New Zealand yesterday.

Laboratories processed 3616 tests on Saturday, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 979,985.

New requirements for air crew took effect from 11.59pm last night.

Changes to Orders made under the Covid19 Public Health Response Act 2020 are being made to require:

All New Zealandbased air crew to use PPE on all flights and to isolate with other crew members while on overseas layovers;

All overseasbased air crew to wear appropriate PPE while in New Zealand airports and whenever travelling between the airport and their hotel;

Overseasbased air crew who are laying over in New Zealand to do so in a Government managed isolation facility for as long as they are in the country, to ensure they avoid contact with New Zealanders;

New Zealandbased crew returning to New Zealand from highrisk locations overseas to selfisolate for at least 48 hours after they return, and until they are assessed as being low risk of having Covid19 (including receiving a negative test).

The ministry said it was aware these measures were already widely used, and this change would make sure that they were applied consistently.

On Saturday, one new case of Covid19 in managed isolation was reported.

That person arrived in New Zealand on October 1 from England via Hong Kong. They had been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

The ministry made a plea for vigilance as school holidays continued and early voting started.

People should scan into their voting places with the New Zealand Covid Tracer app, use the provided hand sanitiser before going in and out of the voting place, bring their own pen to mark the voting paper, and keep social distance from strangers in the voting place. — The New Zealand Herald