Covid 19 coronavirus update: Chris Hipkins, Ashley Bloomfield reveal 13 new cases - and issue a warning about social media

There are 13 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand - 12 in the community and one in isolation.

And New Zealanders were today given a strong warning not to trust unverified information they may read on social media.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins and director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield gave today's Covid update from the Beehive.

Bloomfield said all 12 community cases are Auckland-based and none had travelled outside of the region. All have a connection to the existing cluster.

Bloomfield said the results from testing at Americold would hopefully be available later today.

It appeared the outbreak could be clearly linked to Americold in the first instance - and that this gave investigators the best lead. He said it may eventually prove to have no link, but an Americold worker had the earliest symptoms.

Three people are in hospital. One is in Middlemore. Two are in Auckland.

To date, 66 people linked to the cluster have been moved into quarantine.

The person in isolation is a child who arrived from Afghanistan and is in managed isolation at the Pullman Hotel.

New Zealand now has 1271 Covid-19 cases. Of the 49 cases in the community outbreak, all but three are linked.

There have been 1536 close contacts of the cluster identified by the contact tracing centre. All are self isolating.

Bloomfield said the response was "tremendous". He urged people who were called by the contact tracing team to take the call - or return it if they missed it.

Officials were working closely with two religious organisations to help with contract tracing.

Bloomfield said he wanted to thank people who were getting tested. He knows there are still some long waits.

"To those who are waiting very patiently, thank you very much."

'Vile slurs ... totally wrong': Beware social media

Health Minister Chris Hipkins issued a stern warning about social media, saying sharing of unverified information had created "extreme distress" for the family at the centre of the current cluster.

He said one post in particular contained a "number of vile slurs and was totally and utterly wrong".

Hipkins said it smacked of malicious behaviour.

"At a time we are fighting a pandemic, this sort of behaviour is designed to create panic ... and is completely unacceptable," he said.

He made a plea to New Zealanders to be careful about what the believed and shared, and said information sourced on social media could not be treated as official.

Today's case details. Source: Ministry of Health.

Hipkins said there have always been rumours but this smacked of orchestration.

He begged people to think twice before sharing unverified "nonsense".

"Please take your information from official sources," he said.

"The information here is verified, the information that we share during these press conferences ... is information that you can trust. If a mistake is made, it is quickly corrected."

Hipkins said the Government was working "really hard" to make sure trusted information was being released.

Hipkins said the social media rumours had been pushed hard and his message to people doing so was "stop doing that".

"My plea to New Zealanders is please be responsible and sensible about what you share on Facebook."

Addressing who was pushing the rumours, Hipkins said: "It's clear there are people out there who are pushing it hard and my message to them is stop doing it."

He wanted people to take personal responsibility for the information they were passing on.

He called on all leaders - including politicians - to take responsibility for the information they shared.

Hipkins said "people are not the problem here, the virus is the problem. People are the solution."

"My plea to all New Zealanders is to be supportive of the people who are coming forward to be tested."

Social media was a good way to get information out - but people sharing things should make sure their content was verified.

Americold testing

Bloomfield said the results from testing at Americold would hopefully be available later today.

It appeared the outbreak could be clearly linked to Americold in the first instance.

Bloomfield said it was a possibility that the current strain of the virus was brought to New Zealand by frozen food or packaging.

But he said "it may be that we don't find the exact point of transmission".

Bloomfield said "almost all" of the close contacts of those with Covid had been tested.

Unprecedented testing

Hipkins said testing levels were "unprecedented" and 23,682 tests were processed yesterday, with 63,231 processed across the last three days - which was an "exceptional effort".

He said the system was working at "top speed" and "that should give us confidence".

Processing was being slowed down though due to the huge volume of testing.

"Positive results are reported first and promptly," said Hipkins.

High-risk swabs were being pushed to the front of the queue.

"There are a lot of people working very, very hard to get the test results," he said.

He reminded Kiwis that people who were well should not go for a test because that would slow the process further.

"We are load balancing the processing across the country."

He said clinics should not charge for testing.

The Government was paying for all testing and being "very, very clear" people "should not be charged for a Covid-19 test".

Hipkins said stocks of testing swabs were good.

"We're moving up exponentially," he said.

"We certainly don't stop adding to the supply, we continue to add to the supply as we use it," he said.

The tracer app

The number of people using the Covid tracing app were increasing rapidly, as were the number of people displaying QR code posters.

He was pleased with that.

"A reminder to all New Zealanders - please keep track of your movements."

Hipkins reminded the public that travel out of Auckland was still restricted. Only those with an exemption can leave or enter Auckland.

Hipkins confirmed the official QR code should be able to be used in apps different to the Government app.

He encouraged people to use the official app - but work was being done behind the scenes to ensure that whatever app was used, the code could be scanned and movements tracked.

People not using phones should be keeping track of their movement in other ways - as should businesses.

"They need something for people who are not using the QR code," Hipkins said.

Tauranga testing

Bloomfield said there will be a mobile testing unit available at the Port of Tauranga from tomorrow.

Bloomfield said the Tauranga mobile testing station would have eight nurses, admin and IT support.

They would test through the week for as long as they needed to. The priority would be port workers likely to have had contact with crews from trips.

On masks

Hipkins said he wanted to make sure people could access a mask.

Supermarkets were working to ensure they had good stocks.

"We could make it compulsory ... what we need is a cultural acceptance. If we're asking you to wear a mask, there is a reason."

He said the Government could spend a lot of time and money on making masks mandatory but he preferred to have a social shift and ensure everyone knew how important it was to wear masks where they could.

Tokoroa cases

One person with Covid visited a Tokoroa campus before they were aware of any exposure.

There are no further positive cases in Tokoroa.

Bloomfield said the Waikato DHB had provided a community based testing facility in Tokoroa.

The person who visited Turoa skifield was not symptomatic.

The risk of passing Covid on was "very low" but a number of skifield staff were being tested.

From today, ethnic and age breakdowns will be released.

Bloomfield said the Government was working hard with specific Māori and Pacific communities on targeted health information.

He was working with iwi and health organisations which were "an invaluable" part of the response to covid.

Bloomfield said it was a concern the outbreak was in the Māori and Pacific community.

He said the communities had been "fantastic" in their response.

Hipkins was asked if people leaving managed isolation could get out of Auckland.

He referred that to Megan Woods, who was in charge of managed isolation.

People movements at level 3

Hipkins said, at level 3, people should minimise their movements.

If you were not going to work you should be staying home, he said.

"People shouldn't just be out and about taking a day trip to Waiheke," he said.

Hipkins said police could take action against people not adhering to level 3 restrictions.

He said as at 4pm yesterday, 50,468 vehicles had been stopped at Auckland's borders, of which 676 were turned back. Of those, 428 were seeking to leave Auckland - the rest trying to get in.

Hipkins said anyone not clear on level 3 rules should visit the official website.

In general "minimise the amount of movement you have ... if you don't need to come into contact with someone, just stay home," Hipkins said.

He said New Zealanders should already be "reasonably familiar" with the rules.

"Just think about minimising risk ... let's just all do what we can to stop the spreading of the virus," he said.

The election

When asked about the election, Hipkins said the matter was ultimately up to the Prime Minister.

He said neither he or Bloomfield would comment before the PM had announced her decision.

Bloomfield, when pressed, said he had already advised the Electoral Commission on health risks associated with voters turning up en masse to cast votes.

He said he had no further comment to make at this stage.

He said the Prime Minister would have the most up-to-date information before she made the announcement about the election tomorrow.

Vaccine work

Hipkins said New Zealand was "actively exploring all avenues" around a vaccine and were actively engaged with consortiums including from Australia.

"We're focused on being ready for a vaccine when it is available," he said.

He wanted to ensure New Zealand was "right up front" when a vaccine was ready.

But it was too soon to put a time frame on that matter.

On education

Hipkins said the focus on education was on those sitting NCEA.

He said they could not afford to miss out at this stage and would be a priority.

Towards the end of the briefing, Bloomfield was asked if he won Lotto, what would he do? He revealed he had not purchased a ticket.