Judith Collins spoke to Tim Dower about the planned COVID-19 vaccine rollout and urged that it be accelerated.
There are seven new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation.
With stricter pre-flight Covid testing set to come into force this week, and a concerning drop in tracer app scans over the summer break, the Ministry of Health has revealed details on new infections coming into New Zealand.
There are no new cases in the community.
The new cases at the border include three who arrived from Russia on January 6, and are part of the group of international mariners. In total, 17 positive Covid-19 cases have been identified in this group: nine are deemed historical and eight are active cases.
The four other cases arrived on January 7 and included one from India, two from the United States and one from Puerto Rico.
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,448,199.
On Monday, 2187 tests were processed and yesterday there were 4847 tests processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 3729 tests processed.
Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield made yet another plea for the public not to "get complacent" with the Covid-19 scanner.
"The goal of the NZ Covid Tracer app is to help people record their visits and help to support contact tracers in tracing potential close and casual contacts.
"We can't afford to get complacent – especially given the increasing numbers of new cases we're seeing in many other countries. We've seen how quickly the virus can spread. We all have a responsibility to support contact tracing by keeping a record of our movements, either with the app or by another method such as a diary.
"When someone tests positive for Covid-19, the faster they can provide contact tracers with information about where they've been, the faster contact tracers can get ahead of the virus and break the chain of transmission.
"It's incredibly important we all scan the QR codes wherever we see them, as the more we all scan, the safer we'll all be. If you can't scan then please keep a record of where you have been. The NZ Covid Tracer app is one way to do this through the manual entry option.
"Taking a few seconds to scan in with the app or to record where you have been means we can quickly inform you when you may have been exposed to the virus, so you can take steps to protect yourself and others.
"Make summer unstoppable – scan, scan, scan."
Bloomfield also said people should turn on the new Bluetooth function which means users will get an alert if they have been near another app user who tests positive for Covid-19.
The ministry said its next update would be on Friday.
New variants
It comes as concerns mount around contagious new variants of the coronavirus from South Africa and the United Kingdom wreaking fresh havoc.
There are already 19 cases of the UK strain detected in New Zealand since December 13 and one case of the South African variant.
New Zealand is beefing up efforts to keep covid-infected travellers at the border as a new contagious variant hits our shores. Photo / Bloomberg
In recent days the number of active cases arriving in the country has spiked, with 31 people testing positive for the infection at the end of last week.
On Monday there were 77 active cases in New Zealand.
There have been no cases in the community since November 18.
For the second time in recent months, crew from a contingent of international seaman have tested positive for Covid. The ministry said 14 seamen had tested positive for the infection with eight deemed historical.
They are currently in a quarantine facility in Christchurch after arriving in the country a week ago.
Meanwhile, the government is set to introducing fresh measures to combat community spread.
It included giving increased power to Bloomfield to require travellers from every country in the world to produce a negative Covid-19 test before they leave for New Zealand.
As well as this, most travellers will now be required to take a Covid-19 test as soon as they enter New Zealand.
At the moment, only people coming from the UK and the US are required to produce a negative test – but Bloomfield is set to expand that to every country in the world.
The only exceptions are travellers from Australia, Antarctica and some Pacific Island nations.
Covid response minister Chris Hipkins has also expanded New Zealand's domestic quarantine and isolation testing requirements.
From January 18, travellers from anywhere in the world will be required to undergo day 0/1 testing when entering the country, as well as the routine day 3 and 12 tests.
People travelling from Australia, Antarctica and some Pacific Island nations are also exempt from these rules.
From 11.59 pm Friday pre-departure testing will come into effect with the aim of reducing the number of cases of Covid-19 arriving in New Zealand.
Since the start of the year people arriving from the US and UK have been tested on arrival and required to stay in their room until they return a negative test result.
