Officials factoring in Delta variant spread
Officials are looking at whether New Zealand’s Covid-19 contact tracing systems would be able to cope in the event of a Delta outbreak, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says.
His comments were made to the parliamentary health select committee during a briefing on the Government’s response to the virus in Wellington yesterday following questions about how it had adjusted its response to the more infectious variant.
‘‘The evidence around the Delta variant is emerging on a daily basis. A lot of the evidence is from Australia. We are actively looking at our entire end-to-end response to see what we need to adjust to the Delta variant,’’ he told MPs.
Those infected with the variant had often gone on to infect family members and others before they were notified overseas, he said.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said officials had introduced day zero testing and predeparture tests as a response to the variant. Returnees had also been cohorted in arrival groups – reducing space in managed isolation and quarantine by up to 20 per cent – but this had been stopped to accommodate Australian arrivals.
‘‘I would like to get to the point where we are cohorting again because it adds that extra layer of protection. It means if someone tests positive it is easier to contain all the people at risk because they have a cohort,’’ he said.
‘‘Our response will constantly be evolving. You would’ve seen examples in the past where you saw isolated cases where we were confident our contact tracing system was able to contain those – and it did.
‘‘But now looking at the Delta variant, it may be that other approaches are required alongside contact tracing in order to contain those.’’
He said short-sharp lockdowns used to stop the Delta variant spreading in some Australian states were things the Government would also consider.