Lockdown ‘slows’ outbreak
Bloomfield optimistic as Cabinet meets
There were 20 new Covid cases in the community yesterday — the lockdown is slowing the outbreak, said the director general of health Ashley Bloomfield.
“We are heading in the right direction, but we want to make sure they are the only 20 cases. We can’t let even one case slip through the net,” said Bloomfield, adding that “this next week is critical” in ensuring people were abiding by the rules and getting tests if they had symptoms.
He and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson also revealed yesterday that people travelling in and out of the Auckland region for essential work may be soon health-screened at the regional borders.
And Bloomfield said health officials were yesterday working on advice for today’s Cabinet meeting, where it will be decided whether the rest of New Zealand, outside of Auckland, can come down from level 3 to level 2 early this week.
Bloomfield confirmed his team had come up with advice about tightening alert level 2 restrictions, including mask use. Robertson said any decisions on tweaks would be made today.
Bloomfield said 38 people were now in hospital including six in intensive care, with four requiring ventilation. There are now 801 cases in the outbreak, including 79 recoveries.
The 20 cases yesterday match the number released on Saturday, and was down from daily highs in the 80s a week ago, and 75 last Wednesday.
Bloomfield said the ongoing drop in numbers showed level 4 lockdown measures were working but the highly contagious nature of the virus meant it was important to remain vigilant.
“We are heading in the right direction,”
said Robertson. “But the job is not over yet. This is why we want to see testing numbers in Auckland increase.”
Border screening
Bloomfield said the Government wanted to make sure there was no “leakage” across the Auckland boundary, by screening people who were crossing in and out of the region.
Bloomfield said rather than testing each person this would likely be screening for symptoms, “just as we do with people at the [international] border, at ports and airports”.
Discussions were happening with the transport industry on screening at Auckland’s boundary, Robertson said. A number of businesses were supportive, he said.
“We’re not suggesting that you’d be stopping at the boundary to be tested, because that would create a level of congestion that would not be helpful,” he said.
“It’s not so much testing at the border, but surveillance testing of people crossing the border,” Bloomfield said, adding it wouldn’t be “a forever thing”.
Robertson reiterated the need to stay vigilant despite the drop in daily cases. He said Victoria relaxed restrictions and was now reporting hundreds of cases per day.
He urged people who were a close contact to get tested, along with anyone who had cold or flu symptoms. “With Delta, there is no room for complacency. Let’s double down, let’s get the job done. We have got to do this once and we have got to do this right,” said Robertson.
Bloomfield said ongoing investigations showed the total number of unlinked cases had fallen from 58 last Sunday to 30 yesterday.
Analysis of Saturday’s cases show 75 per cent were contacts of cases. Six people were potentially infectious in the community.
There were several thousand community swabs taken on Saturday, Bloomfield said. Auckland Regional Public Health Service analysis of testing showed more than 20 per cent of the Auckland population had been tested.
Robertson said “a significant amount of effort” had been put into supporting people in Auckland’s largest sub-cluster, the church cluster.
‘Lockdown is doing its job’
The downward trend in cases has prompted modeller Shaun Hendy to say lockdown is “doing its job against Delta”, and the possibility of Auckland moving out of alert level 4 this month is “certainly looking more possible”.
But experts fear there could still be a long tail, and the current outbreak could continue to produce more cases for weeks. Meanwhile, August 20 was the last time any Wellington case or contact was active in the community, Bloomfield said.
Covid case death
Yesterday’s announcement of latest Covid cases follows the death of a woman, aged in her 90s, at North Shore Hospital. She is the first person in New Zealand to die from the Delta variant of the virus.
“Every death is a reminder of the damage Covid-19 can cause when it gets into our community,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Saturday.
The woman had underlying health conditions.