Covid 19: New cases in the Tararua district

Dannevirke Community Hospital was set up for Covid testing in January. Photo / Dave Murdoch

Residents in Dannevirke and Pahiatua have tested positive for Covid.

MidCentral DHB Covid-19 senior responsible officer Deborah Davies confirmed today there were active cases in the Tararua district.

She was unable to say how many people had tested positive.

The cases fall under the MidCentral Health rohe, which reported 25 new cases on yesterday. It was not known then whether there were cases in Tararua.

Yesterday, there were 2846 new cases nationwide and 18,628 active cases.

Davies said with the shift to phase 2 and the increasing volume of case numbers across the country, positive cases were no longer managed by individual public health units.

"Given this, we do not have access to the same level of information about each case as we did when case numbers were lower and the cases were managed by our internal team."

At present there were no known locations of interest in the Tararua.

Davies said as Covid was now widespread in the community, new cases would be reported on a DHB level daily and a report on how many cases were being cared for by individual community hubs would be done weekly.

She said people with symptoms should get tested but those who did not have symptoms and had not been identified as a close contact, did not need a test.

Information on testing sites in Tararua was available at Healthpoint https://bit.ly/MDHBTest or call the Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453.

Tararua District Council mayor Tracey Collis reminded residents to continue using social distancing and masks as well as scanning.

"If you haven't already - make a plan."

She asked those eligible for a booster to book at a regular clinic.

"We are prepared and we will get through this together."

Case numbers could increase in Manawatu, Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa regions.

Collis said plans were in place with the council, health providers and support agencies throughout Tararua to care for the community.

She said vaccination rates sat at 91 per cent double vaccinated and 63.1 per cent boosted.

"We are grateful to all our teams vaccinating and our iwi who are ready to assist with Covid-19 surge demands."