COVID-19 update 16 September 2021

News article

16 September 2021

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will update the media today at 1pm.

>> Tena koutou katoa,

Today I will cover how Aucklanders are going with vaccinations this week.

I will also do a forward look to the questions of whether any further changes will be made to our Alert Level is as we look to make decisions on possible moves at the next Cabinet meeting.

Minister Robertson is here and will comment and take questions on our strong GDP results at the end of this conference.

You may have other questions also

Before all of that, I will hand over to Dr Bloomfield.

>> Thank you. (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI).

There are 13 new cases of COVID-19 in the community today.

All of these are in Auckland, and the total number in this outbreak is now 996.

There are now 460 cases who have recovered which is great news. 15 are in Wellington, the remainder are in Auckland.

There are five border related cases to report in recent returnees in MiQ.

As of late this morning all but one of today's committee cases are linked to known cases -- community cases, with most being household contacts. Interviews are underway with the remaining case, and this is a person who presented to Middlemore Hospital with no symptoms but was swamped as part of the wider testing at middle more.

19 are still in hospital, four are in the ICU, or requiring ventilation. -- all requiring ventilation.

We continue with competence of testing, and yesterday there were 17,578 swabs processed around the motu. Across Auckland, more than 1900 swabs were taken which includes nearly 2500 tests of both symptomatic and asymptomatic people in our seven subject -- suburbs of interest. In addition about 2300 essential workers were swamped.

I want to acknowledge the excellent testing rates across the suburbs of interest including in particular Mangere, Papatoetoe, Otara and Manurewa .

Another of the new cases today is a truck driver who has travelled over the Auckland boundary as part of their work to make deliveries. This driver is being interviewed by Auckland Regional Public Health to determine whether there are any locations of interest. If there are, these will be put up on the Ministry of Health's website.

There may well be exposure events but they may not become locations of interest if there is only one or two or a small number of people and those people are all known.

The driver was tested after isolating as a household contact of another case.

This case does emphasise the importance of our approach to testing people travelling across the Auckland boundary.

Just a reminder that after 11:59pm this evening, all permitted workers who cross the Alert Level boundaries must be able to show proof they have had a COVID-19 test in the past seven days.

This is in addition to the evidence they need to show they are permitted to cross the boundary. As this is surveillance testing, permitted workers who have these tests are not required to isolate or stand down while awaiting results.

Police will begin checking compliance with this requirement from midnight tonight, and people who cannot abide the required information will be turned away. -- provide the required information will be turned back.

I want to thank the employers of permitted workers who have been working closely with our teams across government agencies to ensure their workers can comply with requirements.

Many employers have made arrangements for onsite testing, and those who need to get tested if it is not onsite at your place of employment, you can go to any of our community testing centres or AGP.

There will also be a pop-up testing centre at the Mobil station on State Highway one at Meremere tomorrow. There are points around the country at Waitomo Bombay and Tehana nations.

Yesterday 100,000 rapid antigen test gets purchased by the Ministry of Health arrived in the country. These are being used in two pilots.

First, testing patients arriving at Middlemore Hospital's ED. In this case, samples for rapid antigen testing will be taken from people who are having swabs taken for laboratory PCR testing and who consented to an additional sample being taken.

It requires another swab at the front of the nose. This will help assess the accuracy and usefulness of the tests in this setting and how they can be operationalised, as well as if someone is positive, give an early indication.

The second pilot will be one that is rolled out as part of the reconnecting New Zealanders work for people arriving at international airports and details of the pilot are still being worked through.

These tests are being piloted to work out how they are best used in future to identify infections and support outbreak in investigations and monitor disease trends.

Further testing is happening across Middlemore Hospital, across their wards for all inpatients, starting with adult medical and surgical wards. This is not compulsory testing but I encourage those who are asked to take up the offer of being tested.

Finally I would like to acknowledge today our district nurses who are working across Auckland at Alert Level four.

They are on the frontline doing great work every day. I continue to see patients as essential -- they continue to see patients as essential healthcare workers in their homes every day.

There are extra referrals at the moment because GPs, hospices and hospitals are delivering as much care as they can remotely.

As one triage nurse and clinician told me recently, "Imagine being a parent and having to care for a child with serious health concerns including breathing difficulties at home under Alert Level 4,"

And in these instances our nurses can help with the complex care required and provide reassurance to the children and their father that they are getting the kit -- children and their whanau that they are getting the care they need.

District nurses work to Alert Level 4 precautions which means keeping patients safe, and taking on and taking off PPA all day long so kia kaha and Nga mihi to our nurses.

Thank you.

>> Thank you Dr Bloomfield.

This morning our mobile buses were launched in Auckland before heading out to parts of the city where the vaccination numbers have been lower or people were not able to access vaccination centres easily.

Three were launched this morning, with one heading to the supermarket along Lincoln Road and West Auckland. One based at Pukekohe countdown, and the other at Papakura train station. Three more are having their final kit out and will be deployed in the next couple of days. We will look to build up the fleet further over the next week to take full advantage of the 12 vehicles provided, and special thanks to Auckland Airport.

We are working closely with Māori and Pacific partners and community leaders to determine what locations to target with a focus on suburbs where we want to ensure vaccines are accessible. While we are at Alert Level 4 in Auckland they will be put in places that allow people to be vaccinated at a safe distance from one another and for people to be observed at a safe distance from one another.

In future we anticipate there will be more mobility, and therefore they will be more residential in where they go and how they are able to perform their job.

We have had another milestone. Today we had 3,000,000 1st doses delivered nationwide representing over 70% of our eligible population.

This is a significant milestone so thank you to all of those who have been vaccinated so far.

We have the capacity to do even more and even faster.

We have the ability to get to 80% of Aucklanders vaccinated with their first dose by the end of the week. Nearly 37,001st doses were delivered in Auckland in the last two days but we need to do better again.

For those who are yet to get your first vaccine, I encourage you to get out there and do it today. Head to your nearest drive- through or walk-in provider and join the tens of thousands of Aucklanders who have done their bit this week. It is the most important thing you can do to help us as we work together to get out of lockdown.

If you are not sure where to go, I want to expressly mention the places where you have options. These are places where you do not require a booking. In the south, the airport park and ride. Papakura marae is a nation centre, Manurewa vaccination Centre, the Otara vaccination Centre at five Otara Road. Pukekohe vaccination Centre at six Roslyn Street. And Takanini the nation centre.

Out west, you have the trust arena at Central Park drive. Henderson vaccination Centre 28 Catherine Street, Westgate vaccination Centre on Westgate drive. Central Auckland, if you need a walk-in, there is a vaccination Centre at 35 Graham Street - our recently established CBD site. Epsom vaccination Centre at 382 Manukau Road. Tamaki Glenn Ennis vaccination Centre.

In the north, drop into the North Shore airport drive vaccination Centre on postman Road. Albany Wartburg and vaccination centres, -- Birkenhead vaccination Centre. If you're in the south, keep an eye out for the mobile buses.

Remember, you can turn up at any of these sites.

No bookings. There is capacity, take your whole family bubble with you and it's free.

Our efforts to defeat the current outbreak mean that vaccinations are incredibly helpful now and into the future. Before I finished, I want to touch on questions we have had on whether there will be any changes made to the alert system going forward.

We know Delta is more dangerous and difficult, and so we have adapted our response. A few weeks ago we stepped into Alert Level 2 and we made changes to reflect the risk we face. We also said we would consider whether we needed to do the same to Alert Level 1.

Cabinet has considered the settings at Alert Level 1 and we have received the advice of Dr Bloomfield and the public health team.

We have reached the conclusion that Alert Level 1 will remain the same. At this level we are prepared. Prepared means we scan, we wear masks in high-density places where it is hard to contact trace like buses but we don't have COVID in the community's otherwise we have normal lives.

That is the objective of level 1 and we don't believe it needs to change even with Delta.

The most important consideration here is that Alert Level 1 has always been for an environment where there is no risk of community transmission, where COVID or indeed Delta does not present a risk, when it is outside our border walls and not in them.

That means so long as Auckland is in the higher Alert Level is of a 3 or 4, we believe we will need a greater level of preparedness in the rest of the country. Right now while Auckland is at Alert Level 4, the rest of New Zealand is in a very high-level state of precaution. We ended in on the top rung of Delta Alert Level 2.

We do not believe the rest of New Zealand will necessarily need to stay on the top rung. If on Monday we confirm our in principle decision to move Auckland to Alert Level 3, we will consider specifically an increase in the number of people who can gather together including in hospitality venues. We anticipate this would be lifted to 100 people.

Essentially as Auckland moves down, the rest of New Zealand can ease a little bit whilst remaining on high alert.

While final decisions will be made at cabinet, we wanted to give a forward preview of our direction of travel. As Mrs have rightly been asking if we can give -- business has rightly been asking if we can give signals so they can prepare.

What is clear is our Alert Level system has served us well over the last 18 months, but as vaccines become part of our toolkit we need to integrate them into our Alert Level system.

We are doing some thinking on this as we speak and we will keep you updated.

For now we are happy to take questions.

>> Can we get some more details about the truck driver crossing the border, was it North or South, how many places did they go to, how nervous should people be outside the borders of Auckland?

>> I will give Dr Bloomfield the opportunity to speak on the details and then I will speak on your more general questions.

>> Early information so far, the truck driver travelled to Hamilton, Cambridge and Tauranga.

However, we are not sure if this was during the infection period and that will come out of the discussion happening with the driver at the moment by our public health team.

If there are any locations of interest there will be a public announcement. There may not be any, as it could be the only potential contact the driver had was with a small number of people and those people are all known at specific locations.

>> Do you mind if I just mention briefly on that, this further reinforces two important points. This is why we have put surveillance testing in place for those who are moving around our borders. But of course, nothing is full proof. That's why continuing to have Alert Level systems and using level 2 as an extra precaution is also important.

Finally, this is an individual who had previously been tested on 22 August as well, so again demonstrates when you have testing on either side it still won't necessarily capture everything. Regular surveillance testing is important but caution is as well.

>> Talking about 100 people in hospitality venues, is that an admission that you were too strict ? We needed caution and the rest of the country and that's what at that entry into level II demonstrated, the need for caution.

As I have linked today if Auckland moves to 3 we feel more comfortable with lifting a few restrictions in the rest of the country and we are indicating if that moved happened, that would be the most likely adjustment we would see.

>> How concerning is that that the truck driver went to 3 different cities?

>> It is someone who works for food provision, stocking supermarkets, not unusual. The contact is limited to deliveries and dropper -- drop- offs.

>> I don't have particular concern. The good thing is the person was tested and we found that case as well as the other household member.

>> This person has been identified as part of the outbreak, they were a contact. Unfortunately there is some work being undertaken before they are identified as a contact but no suggestion they have done anything they shouldn't have.

>> Should there be more than evidence of the test?

>> Keeping in mind that if someone is coming back and forward across the boundary if you need a negative test every time, do they have to retest every time, daily in some cases? For those who are regularly crossing it is a test on a weekly cycle. If it had to be on every point of departure you could require them to be tested every day. And there are literally thousands of workers who move freight around the country. Extra precaution is being used to make sure we are not just relying on one single tool here.

>> Professor Michael Baker is saying we need a temporary amnesty for over stayers to squash any fear that would prevent them coming forward if they had COVID. Without that fear, what is your view on a temporary amnesty?

>> That implied somehow there is a link that when people who are accessing our health surfaces and their immigration status and there is none I say time and time again, everyone in New Zealand right now, regardless of their immigration status is able to be tested at any time and is able to be vaccinated at any time. It is no way linked to immigration status.

>> En high-trust look are you confident the community trusts the system enough?

>> There is work to be done generally because in some cases generations of mistrust with covered agencies and I don't think anyone thing fixes that. It's about relationships and the work we do with providers and communities and sending that message that this is available for everybody and it's not a question of having particular immigration status.

>

>> Would and amnesty give guarantee to that community and avoid a public health risk?

>> My point of view is that implies there is a link with your immigration status and there is not. We have had amnesties in the past and not everyone uses them. What I would rather as we clearly send a message that this is not linked in any way at all.

The final point I would make I know you have done a story on deportations and people from the Pacific, the number of individuals who have been deported is heavily weighted towards those who have been deported after finishing serving sentences. For assault, sexual offending and so on, that is the vast bulk of those deported rather than those who are in the community.

>> So it is based on criminality?

>> The important point is these are individuals at the end of a criminal sentence, not necessarily having places in the community, it's always been determined they are deported at the end of their sentence. No- one from Fiji has been deported since April given the status layer. There is conversations with the government about receipt of those individuals and if they cannot be accommodated they are not deported.

>> News hub last night in a story about the accused MiQ escapee, he was let out after a 10 days, is that best practice? Shove and that's what happens because people continue to shed after they are infectious.

>> We don't do testing once people are diagnosed when they are in quarantine which they all are except for a very few at the moment.

The procedure around releases overseen by the Department of Health and the minimum is 10 days and at least 70 do -- 72 hours asymptomatic. We are moving back to 14 days and that is being put into operation in Auckland at the moment. In the case of that individual they were asymptomatic throughout and our clinicians do an assessment, some people are Longer than 10 days if there is a sense they could still be possibly infectious.

>> Given its the epicentre in Auckland, why still the 10 days?

>> The current protocol is very good and I have confidence in our clinicians in Auckland, they have been dealing with COVID-19 cases for the last 20 months and they are involved in the release of event people who arrived from overseas and turn positive in Jet Park. They have experience in judging whether someone is no longer infectious and can be released. Remembering those people in Auckland are being released out into an alert level for environment, they are back in their own homes.

>> When exactly did the 10 day rule come into effect? It was 14 days dating back to this time last year.

>> 14 days for someone's period of MiQ as opposed to length of time from someone being diagnosed.

>> Specifically on your quarantine information it says you will need to stay in quarantine for 14 days, not managed isolation.

>> I'm distinguishing someone who is diagnosed with COVID.

>> The clinical guideline for someone who is released, who was a case and has been for over a year, 10 days and 72 hours. Initially it was 48-hour is extended that to 72 hours symptom-free. More recently we work with public health units across the country to update that to include a move to 14 days +72 hours.

It was agreed towards the end of August, in Auckland, I spoke to the clinical director of the public health unit this morning and she said their main focus is on dealing with the outbreak so they are in the process of implementing that policy but in the meantime every person who is adjudged recovered is on the basis of a clinical assessment by the medical officer.

>> The rule that says someone who needs to be in quarantine for 14 days and not implemented in the middle of a delta outbreak.

>> Every person who is released from a managed isolation facility has a clinical assessment to see if they are ready to be released. That is the most important thing.

The guidelines have been the same for a long time. But it is a change in protocol so Auckland is the largest -- last one to come on board. It would be a change in protocol in the middle of them doing a bit of hefty work at the moment. I am going to pan around.

>> Was there an approach any point, what do you think this means for New Zealand 's relationship with the three countries?

>> On the last point I anticipate no change in our already strong relationship with the United States, the UK and of course Australia. On the first question, no we were not approached but nor would I expect us to be.

The centrepiece of this arrangement is the building of nuclear powered submarines to be based out of Australia and Prime Minister Morrison and all partners are well versed and understand our position on nuclear powered vessels and also nuclear weapons.

That of course means that they well understood our likely position on the establishment of nuclear powered submarines and their use in the region.

>> Are you concerned that could supplant some of the existing...

>> No, I'm not. It doesn't change, this is not a treaty level arrangement, it doesn't change our existing relationships, including Five Eyes or our clothes -- close relationship with Australia on defence matters.

I was advised of this proposal on the same day as Australia's cabinet, we stay in close touch on matters important to both of us. As you can manage a -- imagine, Prime Minister Morrison was well aware that New Zealand would be not interested in building nuclear powered submarines.

>> Are you concerned that the heightened geopolitical tensions?

>> I would say we have worked hard, as Australia has done, to ensure greater engagement by the United Kingdom and the United States in our region. But our lens will always be from a Pacific nation and our view of what is best for our region. We want peace, stability and we want a rules- based order that is preserved in our region. And that is the position we will come at on all of these issues. But I want to see greater engagement in our region more generally.

>> How can you say it won't change our security and intelligence relationship when they have effectively formed another group that we are not part of?

>> It is not unusual for countries to have a range of different security or defence partnerships. And there are a number that Australia belong to and of course we engage at a bilateral level also.

This is not at the level for instance of our existing partnership that includes the United States, the UK, Australia and Canada and this does not diminish the existence of that arrangement. The one thing I would say is again, the centrepiece, the anchor of this arrangement are nuclear powered submarines and it will be clear to all New Zealanders and to Australia why New Zealand would not wish to be a part of that project.

>> It is the anchor but it is part of a broader structure, aren't we missing out on that and couldn't we have worked out a way we could still be part of it without having that it's a centrepiece?

>> Indeed, that would look something like Five Eyes which we are already a part of.

>> New Zealanders first and foremost a Pacific nation, does that diminish the role we play on the world stage or does it mean we can't play in the big leagues?

>> I refer you to mice -- I refer you to my speech on the Indo Pacific, first and foremost we anchor ourselves and the Pacific but equally we see the value of understanding the role we have to play within the Indo Pacific. It leads us to have a different lens as members of the Pacific, it does not change or diminish the role we have to play.

And I would be the last to imply that New Zealand does not have a strong role to play in our region and that we very much pull our weight in the region.

>> (Inaudible)

>> It gives us perspective of the role we have.

>> Are there talks of looking at defence spending, I hear the finance minute -- finance minister is running the ruler over it. Does it give you because to wonder where New Zealand is heading?

>> No. We've had an extraordinary investment in lifting our capability and increasing what we have as assets within our defence Force. I would disagree with that. I push back on the sentiment that in any way New Zealand is doing anything other than its bits. We have an independent foreign policy, we take our own views on foreign policy issues, we will continue to make a contribution and our lens is peace, stability and a rules- based order.

>> On AUKUS, nuclear subs going into the Pacific, in line with that independent foreign policy would you be against Australia's nuclear submarines going into the Pacific.

>> Certainly they couldn't come into our internal waters, our legislation says no vessel that is wholly or partly powered by nuclear energy is able to enter our internal waters. That is in fact a position that has been held across parties for a long period of time. It would be interesting to see if any other party is changing their position, given the comments I've seen from the National Party. Again, we have to make sure we are consistent.

For us it is our internal waters, that's where we have jurisdiction and that's where obviously we are taking a position on that, but again, I am pleased to see that BI has been turned to our region from partners we work closely with. There is a role others can play, but the lens we look at it from will include stability.

>> Cases for the last fortnight have been stuck between 10 and 33, there have no doubt been less cases in the community...

>> I would have called it a steady decline recently, Ben.

>> The last fortnight between 10 and 33, there is no doubt there was more before that. Are we reaching the limits of what lockdown can achieve? Are you confident cases will drop down to single figures next week?

>> We have given an indication of the role that level forward play and we have also given an indication -- level 4, but we have made our decision in principle and we will look at the health advice we get on Monday.

>> One thing to add, yes, the cases are still in the teens although we are seeing them trending down.

Talking again to our public health colleagues in Auckland this morning, almost their exact words were that the outbreak in wider Auckland is very much under control and there are just some groupings of households in South Auckland... The good thing here is they know the connection. Therefore they are aware of where other cases may come up and they are able to rapidly link new cases back to those households. And that is where the focus is for further testing, contact tracing, isolation. That gives us increasing confidence the outbreak is becoming controlled.

>> I will come over here.

>> How are we going to convince Kiwis who are unsure or unlikely to get the vaccine?

>> We're going to keep using every effort and channel we have got. I want to make two comments.

One, it is increasingly clear from overseas that vaccination is highly protective of people getting unwell and dying from COVID-19. The evidence could not be more clear. In countries with high vaccination rates, COVID-19 has become a pandemic or an epidermis of the unvaccinated.

The second point is it is not just any vaccination level.

It is a very high vaccination level. We need to be at or above 90%, and that is where everybody needs to be thinking about. And that is why we have geared up our system to make sure we can deliver to that level, and every New Zealander, this is mission-critical, every New Zealander needs to take up that opportunity.

>> That is the number, 90%?

>> You would have heard Dr Bloomfield just said, or above.

The higher we are the more protection we have, the more likely it is we don't have overly restrictive rules around us. Because everyone who could be vaccinated hasn't been. My reason, if I could pick one - I have a whole list of them - if I could pick one, I would say do it for the kids. Is a whole group of children that cannot be vaccinated right now.

They are not eligible. Yet we are increasingly seeing COVID-19 reach our children. Unless every adult who is eligible to be vaccinated is, they risk passing it on to a child. So if you don't feel like doing it for yourself, do it for our kids.

>> Could you clarify, should someone who has had an allergic reaction to the COVID-19 backs and -- vaccine have to pay for treatment

>> They would be covered by ACC.

>> So they should not be paying for medical attendants?

>> If someone has a reaction to a flu vaccine, there is provision under ACC to be covered. If anyone has issues with that, reach out to ACC or your local MP to support you but that should be covered. I said I was going to go over here. Then I'm going to leave time for Minister Robertson.

>> With the level 1 setting, how much notification to Cabinet give, and I'm interested in your advice around mandatory masks and mandatory record-keeping, Dr Bloomfield. We know if something becomes normalised, you don't get the issue of people not doing it and becoming complacent, so what consideration was given to that?

>> What we are matching is risk. If Auckland continues to be in higher Alert Level is that is because there is risk of COVID which means there is risk to everyone. That's where we do need to keep up the mask wearing and the scanning. That is best achieved with Alert Level two settings, although if Auckland is moving down, we feel more comfortable making adjustments.

If you're in an environment where there is not a risk of COVID, then mask use, yes we are keeping it on public transport, but less so day today but scanning, yes. Scanning applies all the way through.

 

Those changes we have made apply at level 1 because that is the precaution you want in place if you have an outbreak to retrospectively go back and find out where your contacts are so that continues and it has been part of the policy decisions we took some time ago.

>> Do you have a particular view on the masking, Dr Bloomfield?

>> Yes I did. It concurs with the Prime Minister. The thing about Alert Level 1, and this is what our advice is, Alert Level 1 is level 1 and that means we can enjoy all the freedoms we have enjoyed for much of the last 20 months. Of course, what we are now thinking about is when we go back to enjoying all the freedoms we have had and as we get our vaccination rates up, what are the other measures we might need. Not just in the communities but also at the border and then that segues into the work around reconnecting New Zealand.

>> In a Delta environment, when everyone can agree that the orders aren't perfect, is there not -- the borders are not perfect, is there not that underlying risk all the time? How is level 1 a risk free zone?

>> We have had 170,000 people come through that border with those precautions and we continue to use precautions, we have increased precautions and we have learned new things and ramped up the system to make it tighter as we go along.

Remember, we have had long periods of no cases. What you are suggesting is that people should wear masks all the time. Including when we have essentially been COVID free. Scanning, yes.

Scanning is backwards looking so we want to make sure we can get back to where people have been so we can contact trace. But we took a different view with masks. Right now, masks are important. COVID is in our community, yes it is contained but we see it playing a role in the could -- current environment.

>> There has been a couple of polls out yesterday that show the Labor Party doing quite well.

>> I haven't actually seen someone mention, sorry, someone mentioned the numbers to me yesterday and I can't recall them off the top of my head so that gives you a sense of where they are sitting in my order of importance right now. Look, it matters to me whether or not New Zealand has trust and confidence in what we're doing in the job we're doing is a government but right now I have a pretty singular focus and it is the job we're doing here.

>> I have a question on behalf of Jessica who was too scared to ask it. On the buses, you came up with Shot Bro.

>> You should own those questions, Jason.

Yesterday, I put up last night a quick poll on Facebook so I wouldn't say it was in any way scientific. I am having trouble remembering the number of people that engaged in it. 28,000, and Shot Bro came out on top. That's why one of the buses has Shot Bro on it. I am sure there will be plenty of other names on the other buses.

>> Is Shot Bro better than Jabber the Bus, the great Australian name?

>> (LAUGHS), in defence of Shot Bro, which I believe came from Maori TV, I think it is pretty unique to New Zealand. It has a double meaning, I thought it wasn't bad.

>> Talking about nuclear free, do you see climate change as more or less urgent and dangerous to New Zealand as COVID-19 and will it take 18 months after declaring a climate emergency for the government to release its plans?

>> That would be problematic if that was the only channel through which emissions reduction fund being delivered but it's not. That's the first and important point for me to make.

In terms of the relative threat, there is no question what threat a pandemic poses to the immediate public health of an entire society, and indeed the world. So there is good reason why it is top of mind for everyone right now for, it is taking lives right now. That is not to diminish the fact that climate change equally is an incredibly important challenge for us for generations to come that we need to act now on. I am not going to diminish the importance of climate change right now.

<< (INAUDIBLE) release an updated document ahead of COP26?

<< That is our intention.

<< Dr Bloomfield, the Middlemore Hospital case you referred to earlier, do you have any more information including how many people are deemed close contacts and isolating, what department the person was in and so on?

<< The only part of that I can answer is the last part of the question, the person was seen in the emergency department. They were screened and had no risk factors or symptoms but they were tested as part of the wider surveillance testing that they are doing and they were found to be positive. I have no further information at this point. If there are any locations of interest, they will be published as soon as possible.

<< Does that indicate there may be community transmission in South Auckland we are unaware of?

<< I would say that every one of those cases over the last week that have been first identified at Middlemore Hospital with people seeking healthcare, we have been able to link back to our existing cases, households or workplaces. Of course each case has taken on its merits and interviews are underway.

<< Just two questions on vaccination. Going back to children not being able to be vaccinated, is it your view as long as children cannot be vaccinated there will need to be some sort of COVID-19 restrictions in place to keep them safe?

<< So... Looking around the world, at the moment, we are building some international evidence of what is needed alongside vaccines to ensure that those who cannot be vaccinated, i.e. Children, have some level of protection. You will see what is happening overseas is they are not doing things necessarily specific to children.

It is about what we do to reduce the amount of transmission happening. There are very few countries doing nothing except vaccinating. Even Denmark has worked at the border.

In fact, as I say, very few. They are coupling vaccine together with other measures because even with very high rates of vaccination, you still have risk for people like children.

<< Should vaccination be mandatory for health workers?

<< It is something we are looking at. What I might do is get Minister Hipkins to give you an update. Perhaps Dr Bloomfield would like to speak to it.

<< We have certainly given advice around this. My own advice as Director- General is that we should have a high expectation of our health workforce to be vaccinated as part of both protecting patients they are looking after and also as part of ensuring our health workforce is able to function and deliver the care needed.

<< I think the public would have that expectation and I don't think it is unreasonable. One of the pieces of work to be done is how you define health workforce. Lastly, Audrey?

<< How many of the 13 from Snell's beach, and looking on your website, even if it is clear to allay fears for people (INAUDIBLE)?

<< We will get an update later including if there are any locations of interest. The driver is being interviewed at the moment. In terms of Snell's beach, we had the positive wastewater test from the sixth and we got the result yesterday.

A further sample was taken yesterday and in the meantime the public health unit is doing several things. First, look at which people or cases from that area previously have now been discharged back into the community - and there are several who were in quarantine and are now back recovered. Secondly, they are doing some focus testing up around Snell's beach, in particular, focusing on people who live in Snell's beach who work for Southern paprika which is one of the industries or employers that was tested and where some of the earlier cases had worked.

So we will have an update on that but at the moment none of the new cases are from there.

<< Yeah, there is a possibility of someone we know who has been released that it may link back to but we need to do a bit of work. In the meantime precaution is always best. So if you're in the area and you are symptomatically make sure you go and get a test. a group of young women from Afghanistan at risk of being killed, why are we are not taking more of them and what is the opportunity for people to get paperwork?

<< There is a large number of people who for a range of reasons why want to leave Afghanistan and a large number of countries that are working through ways that we can provide further humanitarian assistance or further pathways in the future for resettlement. One thing you will see, we have already been part of that effort but what we need to do is update you on the next steps.

Having already evacuated over 390 people the next steps in supporting people who have a legal right to be in New Zealand and the other assistance we might be able to provide.

<< When will you make a decision on that?

<< As soon as we can.

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