Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield reveals there are two new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation and new details on healthcare workers that contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic. Video / Mark Mitchell
There are two new Covid cases in managed isolation, Ashley Bloomfield says.
There is also one historic case, the director general of health says.
One of the cases in managed isolation developed symptoms around day eight of their stay in Rotorua. The other person returned from Hong Kong and tested positive on their day three test.
The historic case returned from India and completed their managed isolation and was followed up as part of their investigation.
There are 39 imported active cases. Bloomfield said it was "a great milestone" there were no active cases in the community.
Most importantly, people should stay home if sick and get a test.
New Zealand is getting very close to the "1 million tests" milestone - the revised total of tests is 986,544 after some tests were found to be duplicates.
Bloomfield said they wanted to keep testing rates up and it was encouraging to see more than 6000 tests yesterday.
On the case of the woman with a nose bleed who couldn't get a test, Bloomfield said it wasn't for him to second guess other doctors' opinions.
The CovidCard trial is continuing to progressing, he said.
Bloomfield said the Bledisloe Cup could happen in Auckland this weekend because of the hard work.
Bloomfield urged anyone with a ticket who was sick to give it away, adding he was going as he'd managed to secure a "not very good" seat.
"I will be backing the All Blacks in case there's any uncertainty there."
Bloomfield said they'd learned a lot since the first outbreak.
The health ministry has also been working closely with Netball New Zealand ahead of the upcoming Taini Jamison series between the Silver Ferns and England around the arrangements for managed isolation when the Roses arrive, which will allow them to train.
Report into infected health workers
A report into how many healthcare workers were infected while doing their jobs has been completed - months after it was promised by the ministry.
Bloomfield said healthcare workers made up about 11 per cent of confirmed and probable cases in the first wave.
From the first wave, 167 Covid-19 cases were healthcare and support workers - 96 were likely infected in the workplace, and the remainder either infected overseas or in the community. Of the healthcare workers, 62.5 per cent worked in aged residential care.
The report showed the importance of keeping those workers safe, said Bloomfield.
Three healthcare workers have been infected during the latest outbreak.
Bloomfield said the main point about the healthcare workers report was most of the cases were in aged residential care and it identified issues around PPE and cleaning.
The Weekend Herald recently revealed one in 10 of all confirmed cases with a local source until mid-June was a healthcare worker the Health Ministry says was likely infected in their workplace.
The ministry couldn't provide data on what job those 96 were doing, whether it was in a hospital, testing site or rest home or even which region they were in and said a descriptive report was on its way.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation and E Tū want an independent investigation into how the workers contracted the virus and say it should be done by WorkSafe because it is a health and safety issue.
WorkSafe has rejected this because it doesn't investigate clinical incidents.
But Workplace Relations Minister Andrew Little said that almost 100 health staff contracted the deadly virus "was enough for WorkSafe to think about" doing a general inquiry.
"And to make sure they were doing everything they could to prevent transmission to healthcare workers. Those healthcare workers have been absolutely vital and continue to be absolutely vital - we can't have them going down sick with this virus.
"The circumstances are such that we do need some assurance that everything that could be being done, was being done."
Bloomfield said Covid-19 showed the importance of vaccinating against diseases, like measles. The Ministry of Health is running a catch-up campaign for 13- to 15-year-olds to boost immunisation rates.
He said measles was eight times as contagious as Covid-19.
At midnight Auckland joined the rest of the country at level 1, giving freedom to gather in large numbers, and no longer required to wear face masks on public transport.
However, the region was reminded to continue using the contract tracer app to track movement and use heightened levels of personal hygiene.
Restrictions are still in force for those entering New Zealand from overseas.
It comes as health officials yesterday marked a major milestone in the latest outbreak, with the announcement there was no community transmission.
The last community case connected with the Auckland August cluster and the six cases linked to the smaller Christchurch charter flight were now recovered.
The Ministry of Health said the cluster would officially close when there had been no new cases for two incubation periods from when all cases completed isolation.
Meanwhile there were now 37 active cases in New Zealand yesterday, all from overseas.
One person was being treated at Middlemore Hospital.
There have now been 1505 cases of Covid-19 since the infection arrived in New Zealand in February.
Yesterday three new cases were detected in managed isolation. They included two people who arrived on September 23 and were staying at the Ibis in Hamilton. Both tested positive around day 12 of their stay.
The third case arrived in the country on September 29 and had been in managed isolation at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel. The person had since been shifted to the Jet Park quarantine facility.
