Just the facts - A closer look at the Covid-19 vaccine being rolled out across Aotearoa. How it works, why we need it and who developed it. Video / NZ Herald
There are eight new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation announced today.
Today's new cases are in travellers from India, Britain and Ethiopia.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand is now 63.
The Ministry of Health also today reported that there is one new historical case. Historical cases are not considered to be infectious.
Meanwhile, an online tool which advises people to work out which vaccination group they are in is now available on the Unite Against Covid-19 website, the ministry said.
Users answer a short series of questions about their health, location, occupation and life situation.
The results tell them which of the four main vaccination groups they are in, and when they can expect to get their Covid-19 vaccine.
"It also provides more information about who is in each group – so if you're a healthcare worker or work in a long-term residential environment, for example, it will provide an indication when you can expect to get vaccinated," director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said.
"You don't need to provide any information that could be used to identify you, and the information you do provide isn't saved once you leave the web page."
The tool can be used on mobile, desktop and tablet.
It's in the process of being translated into 24 languages, which will start to appear on the website from today.
The website page and online tool will be updated as the vaccine rollout plan scales up.
"As we move through the rollout of the vaccination programme, we want people to be as informed as soon as possible about when they can expect to be vaccinated. This tool is designed to make that as easy as possible," Bloomfield said.
To date, there have been 1.85m Covid tests in New Zealand.
On Sunday, 2690 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 4447 tests processed.
The next Covid-19 update is scheduled for Wednesday.
There has not been a community case in New Zealand since February 28.
Yesterday there were 58 people infected with Covid in managed isolation facilities.
This included eight new cases between Friday and Sunday.
Four were caught through day 0/1 testing – two were from Papua New Guinea, via Australia, one was from Ireland, via Qatar and the other was from India via the United Arab Emirates.
The other four were caught through routine testing at MIQ.
That means the total number of total confirmed Covid-19 cases in New Zealand since the beginning of the pandemic is 2097.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 58.
Despite the fact there are no community cases, health officials continue to process many tests.
On Friday, for example, there were 5223 tests processed – the day before there were 4166.
Health officials will this afternoon provide an update of testing numbers, as well as overall Covid-19 figures.
Their update comes ahead of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's 4pm post-Cabinet press conference.
She is expected to reveal more details about Cabinet's decision on the next steps on the transtasman travel bubble with Australia.
This morning, she told TVNZ that officials will look at various issues to make sure the system is a safe one for both countries, which continue to work to keep Covid-19 out.
"I have said that it is close - that we do expect to be in the position to open up the bubble soon."
Ardern said the initial country-to-country negotiations had turned to state-by-state discussions as the earlier process had taken too long.
"We've had 12 gatherings of our officials, between the two countries, to work on a country-to-country arrangement.
"We've since said: 'Look, let's just move state by state because it's actually just taking a bit too much work, a bit too difficult to get that country-to-country arrangement'.
"Let's just operate as Australia has been operating with us. That's helping to speed this up."
