Auckland workers told: stay home

AUCKLAND: Workers in central Auckland have been asked to work from home today as health authorities scramble to identify the source and extent of the latest community outbreak of Covid19.

Employers and managers were also asked to be kind to staff after it was revealed a woman — who tested positive to Covid19 — served customers on Wednesday at her AZ Collections workplace in High St.

She initially called in sick on Tuesday after being told to isolate following a Covid19 test, but donned a mask and went to work anyway because of a conversation with her manager.

A Cabinet meeting will convene today to discuss whether Auckland should move into a stricter alert level to help contain an outbreak where the initial source of infection was not yet known.

Te Punaha Matatini research centre director Prof Shaun Hendy said the best outcome was that a link could quickly be drawn between the woman’s infection and a border management facility.

‘‘But if a link can’t be established then we may be looking at a larger outbreak and this might require raising the alert level in Auckland,’’ he said.

As Aucklanders faced a jittery wait for more news, authorities were scrambling to genome sequence a swab sample from the woman in a bid to scientifically link her Covid19 strain to other known strains in New Zealand.

The result was expected yesterday afternoon amid hope it would yield clues as to where she contracted the virus.

Auckland, in the meantime, remained on Level 1.

However, central business district workers were asked to instead work from home today if possible.

Aucklanders were also encouraged to wear masks at work and on public transport, track their movements with the Covid Tracer App, practise good hygiene and isolate and get tested if they had cold or flu symptoms.

The woman, in her 20s, reported first developing symptoms on Monday, before being tested on Tuesday.

The results were confirmed yesterday morning.

She lived alone at the Vincent St Residences apartment complex and had limited movements around the city.

Fellow residents at the apartment complex were being asked to get tested and stay home and isolate until their results came back.

Health teams moved in yesterday afternoon to set up a popup testing site inside the apartment complex.

The communal, gym, pool and shower facilities had been closed.

The apartment block was located next door to the managed isolation facility at the Grand Millenium hotel where a fire alarm forced guests to spill out on to Vincent St on Monday evening.

Vincent St Residences resident Alex Holmes claimed he saw people from the Grand Millenium mingling with tenants from his complex and said that could have been the source of the woman’s infection.

However, director of public health Caroline McElnay said yesterday the fire alarm incident was unlikely to be the source of infection for the woman.

That was because she began displaying symptoms before the alarm went off, she said.

Three close contacts of the woman — two colleagues and a friend — had now also been moved to a border hotel. They were all reported to be feeling well.

There were two other cases of Covid19 reported yesterday. One was linked to the November quarantine cluster, and one was in managed isolation. — The New Zealand Herald

What Aurora had proposed to spend on its network was able to be cut by about $86 million by the commission with reductions in capital spending on new assets ($41 million) and operational expenditure ($45 million).

Mr Crawford said it was clear Aurora had to be more accountable and transparent to its customers.

‘‘One of the major themes from our discussions with Aurora’s customers was their lack of trust and confidence in Aurora’s ability to deliver what it says it will.’’

The commission proposed Aurora should have to publish an ‘‘annual delivery report’’, in which it detailed exactly what work it had done in each region and then present that in public meetings.

Aurora said it would work through the detail of the draft decision before giving further comment.

The commission will visit Otago again between November 23 and December 1 as it takes submissions on its draft decision.

A final decision is due by March 31 and new prices are expected to start on April 1.