Associate Health Minister Aupito William Sio told TVNZ today it was looking promising for Northland to move to level 3 from 11.59pm tonight, joining the rest of New Zealand south of Auckland.
The comments indicate officials are happy with wastewater test results and case data. Sio said a report last night showed that the testing of the sewage looked good for Northland as well as the rest of the country.
There are 687 cases in the Covid outbreak following the announcement of 75 new cases yesterday. Auckland's district health boards are treating 32 Covid-19 patients between them - including eight in intensive care - and have asked for up to 30 intensive care nurses to be diverted from around the country to help with the Covid-19 response.
Professor Tony Blakely, a Kiwi epidemiologist at Melbourne University, said he had been looking at New Zealand's Covid numbers "with concern".
He told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that New Zealand and Australia were looking similar on the vaccination roll-out front- but he hoped New Zealand would do better and not "be living with the virus like us."
"I think you should be fighting it hard for another week," Blakely said.
Victoria was not looking good at this stage, he said. The Australian state recorded 120 locally acquired Covid cases in the 24 hours to midnight on Tuesday - the biggest rise in infections the state has seen in its latest outbreak and brings the total number of active cases in Victoria to 900.
Patients moved out of Auckland to free up beds
In Auckland, the pressure on hospitals from the Covid outbreak has forced patients with spinal injuries to be transferred to Christchurch, RNZ reports.
Health Minister Andrew Little says the Ministry of Health and district health boards are also transferring patients to other centres. One example is patients with spinal injuries who live just south of the Bombay Hills, and who would normally go to Middlemore Hospital, are being sent to Christchurch.
He says any transfers are being handled carefully to avoid any risk of spreading Covid.
Meanwhile, the first of 40 Auckland supermarkets have been named as new locations of interest - out of "an abundance of caution" - as health officials try to circle the Delta outbreak.
That caution also now extends to domestic airports - with Auckland Airport boosting security to prevent cases of more students breaching lockdown rules and travelling between cities.
Over recent days, a Victoria University student flew from Auckland to Wellington without an exemption and an Otago University student flew from Auckland to Dunedin. Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said this was "disappointing".
First of 40 supermarkets named
The Ministry of Health has so far released the names and times of 14 supermarkets, along with advice to shoppers to self-monitor for any symptoms.
They are Countdown Mangere East, Countdown Mt Roskill, Countdown Papatoetoe, Countdown Ponsonby, Countdown Three Kings, Countdown Warkworth, Farro Fresh Grey Lynn, New World Papatoetoe, New World Southmall Manurewa, Pacific Fresh Manurewa, Pak'nSave Mangere, Pak'nSave Clendon, Pak'nSave Sylvia Park and Pak'nSave Westgate. Several dairies and mini-markets have also been added - full details are listed at the end of this article.
"Out of an abundance of caution and after some discussion internally, we've decided to add a number of supermarkets as new locations of interest" director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday.
"Around 40 supermarkets across Auckland will be added to the website. These were places visited by people who subsequently were identified as a case," Bloomfield said.
A risk assessment had been done on each of them but due to physical distancing, plastic screens and PPE use the events were "deemed to be low-risk".
"People should look out and if anyone has been in one of these, even if it was some time ago, the advice is to just be careful and watch for symptoms if you were there at the time and place on the website, so no need to go and get a test, just for awareness."
MIQ system changes to help stranded Kiwis
New Zealanders trapped overseas will soon no longer have to waste their time refreshing the MIQ booking system, with the Government promising a more "transparent" system is on its way.
But while a more "transparent" system will make the process of booking a room fairer, it will not add extra rooms to the MIQ system, meaning difficulties securing a room are likely to continue.
"The lobby is a virtual queue that will mean people can be selected from the queue randomly," said Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins.
Hipkins said the Government would introduce a "lobby" system, where people would wait until they received an MIQ voucher. The MIQ vouchers would be allocated randomly,
Once all the rooms had been taken, the lobby would be closed until the next round of room allocations was opened up, beginning the process again.
Hipkins cautioned that problems caused by a small number of rooms would remain.
"It will not fix the overall issue of supply and demand. We still have more demand than we have supply available … but this change will make bookings more transparent," he said.
"It will create a more level playing field."
The system will be rolled out when the current pause on MIQ bookings ends in the coming weeks.
Thomas Kamm, the administrator for the Kiwis In London group, has expressed frustration with New Zealand's border rules.
He told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that allowing people to visit relatives overseas and vice versa was not a traditional holiday, but in many cases necessary to maintain people's mental health.
That was especially so in the case of attending funerals, or saying goodbye to loved ones.
- NZ Herald and RNZ
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Comments
NZ is short of doctors and nurses. Hundreds are waiting to come here from overseas but the immigration minister doesn't want them here. Is he in the right job?
David, nothing to do with that at all. I'm one of those you talk about. The issue is we are a small populated nation that is geographically spread out with an expectation there is a hospital in each town with a heart & brain surgery unit. The Nats closed down all the small hospitals in the 90s and the current provincial hospitals are no more than holding pens to ship acute patients to major centres. Gareth Morgan produced a report wanting just 3 hospitals in the whole of NZ. So its not staff but a case of protecting the ICUs we have. NZ simply could not cope with a major outbreak on the scale (per population =) of Aussie or UK. Even the UK NHS is on the brink of collapse from Boris' handling. So all we in hospitals can say is thank god we don't have Collins or Seymour in charge. Those businessmen wanting the borders to open that put massive pressure on Jacinda to create an Aussie bubble against her wishes - have no idea.
Dave, there are always staff from overseas wanting to work here. Its often not immigration holding things up but many have dubious quals and often can't speak English or have situations where they would not be able to return home.
I fully understand the dire state of our hospitals, worked there for long enough. We simply do not train enough doctors or nurses and have to rely on imports. True, some of them have iffy qualifications but many don't Without them our system would collapse very quickly. I do know of practices waiting for experienced, well qualified staff and can't get them in. The immigration stuff up will turn off some really good staff we desperately need, a little bit of forward thinking and planning plus effective communication isn't too much to ask. Remember, Auckland is asking for nurses to go work there, hardly a sign of having sufficient staffing.