Covid-19 coronavirus: Northland case tally now at 14 as NZ rises to 950

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay addressed the potential for New Zealanders to wear masks when they were out in public at a media conference today. Photo / File

Northland has one new positive Covid-19 case with the region's total rising to 14.

Confirmed by the Northland District Health Board late today, Northland's cases included 13 confirmed cases and one probable case.

Case 1 (RECOVERED): Male, 20s. Departed Paris on flight EY38 to Abu Dhabi on March 14, then to Sydney on flight EY450 and then to Auckland on VA0141, arriving on March 16
Case 2: Female, 40s. Departed Melbourne on flight JQ217 to Auckland on March 15
Case 3:Female, 50s. Departed UK on flight EK38 to Dubai on March 19. Departed Dubai on flight EK448 for Auckland on March 21 (recovering in Whangarei hospital as of 26/3)
Case 4: Male, 60s. Departed Los Angeles on flight NZ1 on March 23 and arrived in Auckland on March 24
Case 5: Female, 20s. Departed Dubai on flight EK448 on March 19
Case 6: Female, 20s. Departed Dubai on flight EK448 and arrived in New Zealand on March 24
Case 7: Female, 60s (probable). Travelled from the United States out of LAX on March 18 and arrived in New Zealand on March 19.
Case 8: Female, 40s
Case 9: Female, 20s. Departed Canada on flight GB615 on March 23 and arrived in New Zealand on the same date.
Case 10: Male, 50s. Departed United States and arrived in New Zealand on March 22.
Case 11: Female, 30s. No international travel.
Case 12: Female, 40s. No international travel.
Case 13:Male, 50s.
Case 14: Unknown

As at yesterday, there were also 12 cases currently under investigation across three Northland hospitals. Six cases under investigation were at Whangārei Hospital, four at Bay of Islands Hospital and two at Kaitaia Hospital.

According to the Ministry of Health, being under investigation is someone who is eligible for testing but has not yet been tested, or is someone who has been tested and do not yet have a result.

People who were being tested were quarantined (self-isolated) until their test results were available.

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A probable case is someone who has been in close contact with a confirmed case and has an illness that is consistent with Covid-19, while their testing for Covid-19 is inconclusive and other causes of their illness (for example flu) have been ruled out.

These people were isolated and contact traced as if they were a confirmed case.

New Zealand's national case tally is now 950 with the addition of 82 new cases, announced by Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield in a media conference today.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said today New Zealand could be in its Covid-19 outbreak peak, but he wanted more evidence before confirmation. Photo / File

Of the 82 new cases, 52 were confirmed and 30 were probable as at 9am today. Bloomfield said 10 people were in stable conditions in various hospitals while a total of 127 cases had recovered from the virus.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

Bloomfield said there has been a "flattening off" of new cases but he would like to see another two or three days of lower new cases numbers to be confident of that.

"It may well be it [Covid-19] has peaked now.

"The number of cases does seem to be levelling off," Bloomfield said.

"We've got good levels of testing happening. That's providing us with good information. So we're increasingly confident these lockdown measures are working."

He said he would provide advice to Cabinet this week as to whether the lockdown should be extended.

Bloomfield also speculated thousands of elective surgeries had been put off due to the stress put on medical facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said there has been no change to the Government's recovery condition - when 10 days have passed since the onset of symptoms and 48 hours after a person is symptom-free.

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay addressed the potential for New Zealanders to wear masks when they were out in public at a media conference today. Photo / File

McElnay said the Government was watching advice from the World Health Organisation for people being required to wear masks when they are out in public, as has been recommended in the United States.

She said there were times where wearing a mask was somtimes unhelpful, as it could lead to people touching their faces more.

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