Lloyd Rooney, co-owner of Number 8 and The Quay restaurants, installed seven hand sanitisers at The Quay alone. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Lloyd Rooney, co-owner of Number 8 and The Quay restaurants, installed seven hand sanitisers at The Quay alone. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A possible Northland case of Covid-19 has been tested and come back negative, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
Results for another possible case of a Northland person who went to the Tool concert and was unwell and in isolation has also been tested – those results were expected back last night or this morning.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in New Zealand remains at five while over 9000 Kiwis or households have been self-isolating since the outbreak.
So far, New Zealand had 331 test results coming back negative and Healthline staff keep receiving high numbers of call – 2920 on Tuesday alone, according to director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
Bloomfield stressed that it was up to every New Zealander to prevent an outbreak.
Everyone – including himself – was guilty at times of going to work with a runny nose and a sore throat, or sending their slightly sick kid to school. Now was the time to be much stricter, he said.
The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / NZME
Meanwhile, the Chinese NorthTec students who have been waiting to travel to New Zealand are still in China as the Government's travel ban has been extended by another week, to March 17.
"We are continuing to monitor the situation with regard to travel from China," Wayne Jackson, NorthTec chief executive, said.
"NorthTec is also continuing to follow the official advice of all agencies involved, including having pandemic and emergency plans which can be rolled out if required. We are providing advice to students, staff and homestay providers around hygiene and how best to manage any potential risk."
Ministry of Health and District Health Board employees have been advised that any non-essential international business travel to or through Covid-19 countries of concern should be postponed or cancelled.
"Currently all international non-essential work travel has been deferred," Northland DHB general manager planning, integration, people and performance John Wansbone said.
"Employees who choose to continue to travel for personal reasons are advised to continuously assess the risk. Currently there are four countries identified as tier 1in which self-isolation is required, however this is an evolving situation.
"If a travelling employee is subsequently required to self-isolate they will need to take this as annual leave, or make alternative work arrangements such as working from home."
The coronavirus outbreak has also had an impact on other parts of the region.
Northland supermarkets are limiting the volume of stock customers can buy for certain items, including toilet paper, hand sanitisers and anti-bacterial cleaning products.
Other workplaces across the region are taking precautions for their staff and preparing for them to work from home as well as enforcing hygiene protocols.
The Jetson Group, owners of The Cove, Quay, No 8 Whangārei and The Dune, have been putting a message out to their customers saying that staff would be extra vigilant while the outbreak is ongoing.
"Our customers and our staff safety are paramount, and while our hygiene and safety standards are exemplary at all times, we felt we needed to be proactive and make changes accordingly," Jetson Group co-owner Lloyd Rooney said.
"Currently all our cutlery, plates and glassware are sanitised through high-temperature cleaning in the sanitisers located both in the kitchen and the bars. However, as an extra precaution, we have now installed hand sanitisers for all our patrons located at the entrance and exit of each of our premises. We ask all our customers to use these to help us keep our premises clean and safe."
Rooney also said that salt and pepper shakers had been removed and both would be available upon request.
Northland travel agents are doubling down their efforts to keep running their businesses as usual.
Steve Smith, Northland Chamber of Commerce chief executive, has been talking to several tourist agencies in the Whangārei district and said travel agents were putting a lot of work into research to inform clients about overseas destinations.
Steve Smith, chief executive of the Northland Chamber of Commerce. Photo / John Stone
"Overall travel agents reported that the volume of travellers going overseas hasn't been impacted massively. The damage is relatively light at this stage."
Smith said for some cruise ships it was hard to find destinations, but vessels were still berthing in Northland.
Eleven cruise ships are scheduled to land in the Bay of Islands until the end of the month, none of which are travelling directly from China.
Cruise Lines International Association says in a statement that ocean cruise lines have introduced stringent measures including pre-screening processes to determine a person's travel and contact history. Vessels will deny boarding to anyone who may present an increased risk.
Other industries across the region report a drop in consumption from overseas customers, especially China.
"Specifically crayfish and horticulture businesses say that the uptake isn't there at the moment – the consumption has dropped dramatically," Smith said.
Generally, however, negative effects on the regional industry as part of the outbreak remained manageable, according to Smith.
He said a more measured response could reduce adverse effects industry is facing.
"The virus itself is not nearly as damaging as our response to it," Smith commented.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson on Monday announced a response package to support businesses, including a targeted wage subsidy for workers in the most adversely affected sectors.
Smith said subsidies for small Northland businesses would be helpful as they didn't "have the deep pockets to survive these kinds of events".
"They might not be in a position to weather a storm like this themselves."
To maintain their intellectual property and keep staff through this period of disruption, financial support from the Government was welcome, Smith said.
