75 new Covid cases in NZ today

There are 75 new community cases and one MIQ case today - but Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield says the bounce in numbers is not unexpected.

The figure is up from 49 yesterday, but down on the Delta outbreak peak of 83.

Thirty-two of New Zealand's overall 687 community cases are now in hospital in Auckland - with eight in ICU including three on ventilators, Bloomfield said.

All but one of today's cases are in Auckland. The other case is a household contact in Wellington.

This person had returned three previous negative tests and remains asymptomatic.

Bloomfield said there was no cause for alarm with a rise in cases from yesterday.

He said the R value, based on the latest modelling, continues to be promising. There is a 90 percent probability it remains under 1, showing the lockdown is continuing to work and chains of transmission are being broken.

Bloomfield said with yesterday's cases, 57 percent were contacts of an existing case and 75 percent did not create any exposure events.

Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins also revealed details of a new MIQ booking system - and announced that new bookings in managed isolation were going on pause for the next week or two.

Public health units have been working with Tegel after three workers tested positive. The workers have been linked back to exposures in the community.

"It's very important that if you have casual workforce...that you confine those casual employees to one site and not working at multiple sites," Bloomfield said.

Hipkins also took a swipe at National and Act over their push for Parliament to convene in person in Wellington, saying he didn't think many New Zealanders were focused on the "pantomime of Parliamentary Question Time".

He noted that no Labour MPs have travelled to Wellington.

On a question on the mind of many parents, Hipkins said moving school holiday dates was "unlikely" and that it was a difficult shift to make. He wouldn't rule it out, however.

54% of eligible Kiwis get the jab

Although Covid case numbers are bouncing around, New Zealand's vaccination rates are only going in one direction.

Three-and-a-half-million doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been administered in New Zealand as of midnight, Hipkins said.

Fifty-four percent of the eligible population in the country have received at least one dose, he said.

More than 85 percent of people aged 65+ have now been vaccinated with one dose, Hipkins said.

Around 37 percent of the Māori population have had at least one dose, and 47 percent of the Pasifika community.

The rates of vaccination within Maori and Pacific have doubled," Bloomfield said, and additional funding is going out to providers.

Bookings have surged in recent times, Hipkins said. More than a quarter of a million people booked for a vaccine on August 25.

Sixty-eight percent of New Zealanders 12 and older are either booked or have had a vaccination.

New Zealand is on track to achieve "a good high rate of vaccinations", Hipkins said.

An update on vaccine supply will be provided at the end of the week, Hipkins said.

Auckland will be the priority, he said. Walk-in clinics around the rest of the country might need to be scaled back.

Graphic: NZ Herald
Graphic: NZ Herald

MIQ pause - and new booking system on the way

A pause on releasing any further MIQ vouchers has been extended for a few weeks, Hipkins said.

"I acknowledge that is not easy for New Zealanders abroad looking to come home."

"We're asking Kiwis abroad to play their part in this response by being patient."

The pause on releasing further vouchers does not pause emergency vouchers. People can still make applications to come home for emergencies.

The booking system will operate differently when it starts back up again. A virtual lobby booking system will be introduced. People will be selected "randomly", removing the issue of being the quickest person to "hit the button", Hipkins said.

He said it will create a more level playing field for people once they are on the site.

There won't be any vouchers released for the next week or two.

The overriding legal principle is that restrictions put in place are proportionate to the level of risk, Hipkins said, about restricting New Zealanders from coming home.

"There is a lot of demand. Those hoping to have summer holiday in New Zealand, my request to them is to leave the vouchers for those who need it. Now is not a good time to return with the intention of going back."

168,000 New Zealanders have moved through MIQ with "very few incidents", Hipkins said.

"We are doing what we can do safely," Hipkins said about the MIQ voucher pause. People need to adjust their expectations, he said.

Several hundred rooms will be available for quarantine use within the next 24 - 36 hours at The Holiday Inn near the airport.

During this week, people currently in quarantine will start to leave, Hipkins said, releasing some capacity.

He thanked staff who worked at these facilities. He said "it's a very stretched workforce"

Hipkins said the booking of the English netball team in MIQ was already underway, but where feasible to push back further group bookings, they are looking into it.

Travel across Auckland border

The number of companies issued with travel documentation to move across the boundary in Auckland between level 3 and level 4 is more than 3,000, covering 23,000 employees, Hipkins said.

Plumbers and other tradespeople can work under alert level 4 as long as they are wearing PPE to help in emergencies, Hipkins said.

People should be checked at the door of the airport terminal before getting a flight out of Auckland, Hipkins said.

"This is disappointing, these people should not be travelling," he said of reports people have left Auckland in level 4.

Infringements should apply. Students should not be returning to their halls of residence if the place they are currently in, is in alert level 4.

More locations of interest

About 40 supermarkets across Auckland are being added to the locations of interest, Bloomfield said. The events are deemed to be low risk but people who have been there should watch for symptoms.

Wastewater testing results show no unexpected detections, and a sample from Moa point in Wellington has retuned a negative result for the first time since 18 August.

Testing in Northland suggests the region will be able to move to alert level 3 tomorrow night, he said.

Bloomfield this morning said the dip of the past few days was heartening, but warned they could bounce up again. That would be expected and mainly because of day 12 results showing up more household contacts testing positive.

"People shouldn't worry if it does go up again," he said, saying he thought New Zealand hit the peak a few days ago.

Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield. Photo: NZ Herald
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield. Photo: NZ Herald
The past three days have seen case numbers fall, from a high of 83 on Sunday to 49 on Tuesday. As of Tuesday there were 612 cases overall - 597 in Auckland and 15 in Wellington.

It is not yet clear how many of the more than 75 cases are split between the community and MIQ. Details will be provided in today's live update.

Given the 14-day incubation period of the virus, all of the cases reported from here on would have occurred during lockdown conditions.

Bloomfield this morning told Breakfast that although positive cases of Covid-19 had started to dip, which was "heartening", they could bounce up again.

 - additional reporting RNZ

 

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