COVID-19 update 29 August

>>Good afternoon, everyone.

Today, I will set out a little bit about what the case numbers are telling us about the virus currently and touch on the support services available to New Zealanders who may be struggling while we are in lockdown.

But first, I will pass over to Doctor Ashley Bloomfield to update us on the case numbers. 

>>Good afternoon.

Today we are reporting 29 communicators since 9 AM yesterday taking the confirmed number of the outbreak to 511. 82 of the new cases are in Auckland.

One is in Wellington, the latter is a close contact of an existing case and was in isolation with no exposure in the community.

There are also two new cases to report in recent returnees and managed isolation.

The total number of community cases in Auckland is now for hundred and 96 and it is 15 in Wellington.

For hundred and 53 of the cases to date are epidemiologically linked with the remaining 58 being established later.

There are currently seven subclasses identified within the outbreak. The two largest being the ones we have talked about previously, the Birkdale social network, with 68 associated cases now. There are also 237 confirmed cases for the other. All the remaining clusters have fewer than 20 people associated with them.

At the moment, we have 30 for people in hospital as a result of this community outbreak. 32 are in a stable condition in a ward and others are in intensive care. Three of those cases are at North Shore Hospital, 13 at -- just reinforce their appropriate isolation and  inventory controls. Locations of interest, additional locations continue to be identified and will be put up on our website. Please do keep checking regularly.

We are now removing locations of interest from the website after 18 days. After that time, we are not concerned about ongoing transmission or public health risk. That is because we are on alert level for so we do still expect people to comply to the gardens. We encourage you to stay within your family bubble and Healthline for advice on testing. As you called Healthline for testing, your contact details will be entered into my contact tracing system. We can trace and track your swab more quickly through the laboratories.

On contact tracing, an update on the numbers there, as of 10 AM this morning, there were 32,771 individual cases identified. Of these, around 80% have been followed up. Around 85% of all contacts identified have had a test to date. Of course, there is ongoing work to follow up the remaining contacts, many of whom, if not most, had contact through the system and Healthline.

We continue to increase our contract tracing work and there are 1700 contact traces trained and available and all the follow-up is being done. Some contact tracing metrics, which I have for you. There are total of 780 for of what we call very close contacts. The balance have been added to the system just recently.

Has been a decrease in testing over recent days and there are many people who are close contacts in isolation who are coming up for the day 12 test.

Just a reminder for those people to not go in early and make sure you do get that day 12 test on day 12. Over 9700 swabs taken yesterday, including those in general practice. The proportion done in general practice drops over the weekend when fewer centres are open. There are still 26 immunity testing centres across Auckland today. Plenty of opportunity for people if they are symptomatic or if they are due for a follow-up test to have that done today. To help speed up process and testing centres, as we have said before, you can call Healthline. We have operators that are who can help you get your NHI number.

Whole genome sequencing, we have run this on 343 of the cases and analysis of all those samples has been successful, which is the vast majority, showing they are all linked to our current community outbreak.

 On wastewater testing, no new unexpected infections a day. Following the detections of samples collected in Christchurch in August, there were samples collected from five different sites in Christchurch on the 26th. Those have all returned negative results and there are a number of samples that have been collected today and tomorrow from nine sites across Christchurch to help us give some more confirmation that there is no further positive testing results in the waste water there.

The samples collected in Auckland on 27 August, consistent with there being positive cases on the committee at that time, it is important that anyone in the area with symptoms does go and get tested. I understand there is quite a lot of interest in exposure events or places in Warkworth. None of the places there are listed as locations of interest because everybody who was at those places has been able to be followed up and track.

Just for your interest, they are the emboli rest home, and I can say that of the people in that facility who were in the dementia ward where the worker was working, all of those returned negative test so far, which is great. There was a medical centre in Warkworth, but anybody who was at the centre at the time where they could have been exposed, have been followed up. There is a difference between our exposure events, which we have many more than actually locations of interest, and the need to publicise those is not necessary because they have been followed up. We already have for hundred and 75 locations of interest. I'm going wastewater testing has been occurring. They have been analysed, including 86 in the North Island and 39 in the South Island.

Finally, before I head back to the Prime Minister, I would like to give a shout out to the hundreds of thousands of essential workers and those New Zealanders who are going above and beyond to support all of us to stay ahead of this. I have heard of countless examples of New Zealanders selflessly looking out for the community. Attributed to the IHC's support workers who are helping people to stay safe and feel safe and comfortable and stay in touch with their family and friends in this outbreak. A shout out to the teams for their amazing work, their stories are quite humbling and moving. They are doing this all on top of juggling their own demands and requirements and often working extra hours to keep people safe and reassured. Thank you to them and all our essential workers.

Finally, we have gone hard and early with this outbreak with our public health response as we have done previously. It is paying dividends. The public health teams and workers cannot do it on their own. There is everything that we can contribute.

>>Thank you. A quick reflection on the cases that were reported yesterday. More than three quarters of our cases yesterday were contacts of closer cases. If we break that down further, more than half of our total cases yesterday were in fact household cases. This once again shows how infectious shelter is. -- Delta. Many of those occurred before little four receptions came in place. A total of 25 people had exposure events outside of their household. We have been advised to date that the Ministry of health analysis shows these are generally essential worksites and tend not to be customer facing sites. We have asked for further analysis as to the nature of these workplaces so we can assess whether our level four rules where people are operating and whether our public health protocols for those places are fit for purpose. As you would have heard me say at the end of last week, we have a small number of workplaces that are operating at level four that have seen transmission within staff. We have been advised that it has been four to date. This may not be a problem with the rules on the factory floor, but what is happening, perhaps, before or after shifts or during break times. We are looking through all of this in more detail. If we need to tighten up our restrictions further, we will. You will also recall that last week we talked about locations of interest generally. A number have actually produced cases. We will see that we have now more than for hundred and 50 sites. This has reduced because of the lockdown and people staying at home. We can show that we believe transmission have occurred at 21 of them. For the most part, that transmission has been relatively limited. I would ask that all contacts, no matter what the location of interest, continue to follow the public health advice. Many will be coming up, for example, or a day 12 test. There are two particular sites where we know a number of cases have come from. One is the Assembly of God. The other one is a you tea. This is a difficult location to contact race. Roma contact race. If you are connected to a Ute, look up the health advice and it clearly sets out the particular advice in locations where people should come forward for testing. I want to talk briefly about the impact of COVID on everyone. Having positive cases in our communities and the impact of lockdowns, I know it can be hugely unsettling. That uncertainty can have an impact on everyone's mental health. If you feel overwhelmed or frustrated, the situation is often all of those things, there are places you can go for support and health. Even while you are living with restrictions. The Ministry of health and Unite against COVID websites have great resources for young people who may be finding this time challenging, particularly in hostels or residences. We know there has been a spike of calls in Youth Line. We know that there has been more funding for that service, a boost to what they normally receive. We want to make sure that all of the services are supported. We want to give an additional million dollars to the services with a particular focus on those in Auckland and Northland. A quick recap on some of the health lines. At any time, anyone can call 1737.  and Youth Line can be reached by phone. There is also targeted mental health support for specific communities by a dedicated number. Family violence and sexual violence services are considered essential and are continuing to operate at level four. If you feel you are in an unsafe environment, you do not need to stay at home or in your bubble. I will repeat. If you are not safe at home, you can leave your bubble. If you feel in danger, coal one 111. If it is not safe to talk, police at the silent solution. Call 111 and you will be able to go through the extension. You will be able to listen listen carefully to the instructions. In addition to the $32 million we have provided to food banks and community groups distressing food to vulnerable people, yesterday we announced an additional $7 million for food security networks operating in level four. The additional funding will help contribute to 60,000 food parcels and 10,000 well-being packs. If you are unable to afford food, coal MSD. To see if you are eligible for assistance or connect to other forms of assistance that are available. If you are struggling to assess food, ask family, friends and neighbours to help deliver food for you. Delivery should be contactless and Local. For those in self isolation will have another way to access food, the student volunteer army also has a grocery delivery service. You can visit their website. We continue to support those needing emergency housing during the lockdown, also. Since lockdown began on 18 August, we have contributed to hotel rooms for people sleeping rough. You might have heard me mention last week as well the three Auckland Metro D Auckland Metro DHB providing vaccination and transport for temporary housing to reach vaccination centres. What I have released is a snapshot of the support measures in place to help people get through the difficulties of COVID-19. I will summarise that as what follows. You are not alone. We are all in this together. Support is just a phone call away. If you are from the Pacific community and need mental health support, you can phone them. Please come do make use of these services are not a questions.

>>For the nine people in hospital, how consenting is that?

>> That is deeply concerning and that is the reason that we have the measures that we have. We know that delta is more concerning and studies are telling us that we need to take measures. That is why we need everyone to act and behave as if they may have COVID and act and behave carefully.

>> For those in hospital under the age of 40, what do we know about what they are going through, especially those who are in hospital?

>> I think in part this reflects the fact that we have got a certificate portion of our cases under 40 and under 30. We have seen other countries with Delta outbreaks come critically across the Tasman, a large number of proportion hospitalised our younger people. Many of them have pre-existing conditions. COVID can be a serious condition for anyone, but how well they are or not. The hospitalisation rate is between six and 7%, little higher than what we have seen in the past. The importance thing is that our hospitals have capacity.

>>Is another argument for everybody following the level four restrictions. Please stay at home but also please get vaccinated. The high success rate of the vaccination rate free and available in New Zealand in preventing serious illness and hospitalisation. It is the best you can do to protect yourself and others. 

>>With the case numbers over 80 again, are you confident that numbers will be controlled or will it grow?

>>It is not likely first lockdown. A real unknown at that time was how many cases we really have in the community. The cases that we were reporting would have been an under estimate. The levels of testing at that stage are not nearly the levels that we have now. But also, COVID was different. This is a variant that is much more fast moving, more infectious, and therefore we need to be more vigilant than we have been before. It is my assessment. 

>>Just to add to that, it is quite clear, we have seen some historical cases since that first outbreak in March and April. We do not pick up all the cases and. We were only testing two or 3000 people a day come there is much higher rates of testing now. This time it is very focused in Auckland. In terms of whether we are making progress, the latest modelling I have seen suggests that we are getting our effective letter our rates just below one.  the only way that we will continue to get that trajectory coming down is if people doing as they did last year what they need to do at a lower level four. 

>>Prime Minister, on Friday, you indicated that Auckland will be as little four for two weeks. Can you discuss that further?

>>Tomorrow will be discussing the advice from our health experts. They gave us an early indication of what they thought would be necessary. They told us that they would be giving us the most up-to-date information and modelling. Of course, we are confirming that that is happening all across the country with other decisions that will be made at the right time. We want to let the public know what has been advised as early as we can.

>>Has what you have seen so far given you cause to rethink? 

>>We give information in real time. We were just discussing this morning, we receive information at 9 AM in the morning. We are discussing it a couple of hours later and straightway we come down and share it. We are doing it in real-time. We know in Australia the cut- offs are the day before. That means you are getting the information as quickly as we are. It is real-time. 

>> Can you talk about tightening restrictions? 

>>We want to be dynamic. If we believe there are businesses operating outside of what they should be, we want to response to that. That is the first thing we will take a look at. We want to take a look at where we might see essential workers not necessarily passing on COVID. We want to see public health protocols for what you should do at operating at level four. It is not business as usual. If you are operating, businesses do have rules. We want to cast our eyes over this with a Delta lens. Is it that we need to change this up to a certain degree? Do we need to ask businesses to do more outside of the factory floor and think more carefully about those points where people may be entering or mixing at work or socialising. We have four sites where we know there has been transmission between workers. 

>>Are you looking for a level 4.5 or a level five?

>>If we get evidence to show that we need to tighten up, we will. I think people would have expected that. Some of them will be the protocols abducting to Delta at level four -- adapting. You only meant to be providing services that allow people to continue to look after themselves in their home and continue their work in their home and make sure that if they have anything to do with their home life and operation that is essential, such as plumbing, gas, power. Outside of that, we want to make sure people are not operating around the fringes in a way that we would not expect. 

>> Do you have any ways of checking compliance?

>>We do have that and I can provide that to you but I do not have it right in front of me. Generally, from the police Commissioner, compliance seems to be high. They have set up checkpoints or places where they are checking at the border to see whether people are moving in anticipation of a light level changes -- alert level. 

>>Can you speak about the vaccinations suppliers and how close we are to running out and whether the numbers are correct from this morning? 

>>Is a very dynamic situation. Given that all of our modelling has anticipated where demand will continue to go. We have seen demands anywhere between 70,000 to 90,000 doses per day. We are working through it, we maintain that level of demand. The impact on both of our supply and our stocks. I said that I would give you an update early next week on the work we are doing to meet the increase in demand and I still intend to do that. I don't have an update for you today, though. Also you are seeing a very good solid day again yesterday which means that now on our rolling daily average has gone beyond the peak for Canada, Australia, the UK and the United States. We are making records currently in New Zealand. 

>>When would we run out, if we cannot get vaccines at the current rates continuing, and can we get vaccines from other countries? 

>>As I said, we are working on strategies to maintain the current level of vaccinations. It is not a matter of running out, it is a matter of whether we are in a position to maintain. We are not at that point of running out yet, and I will give you more information earlier this week. 

>>On the workplaces, you will have a whole bunch of businesses opening up on Wednesday going back to level three, other things that they should be doing differently, things they should be doing at level three they have not been doing in the past? 

>> Yes we have been looking at whether there are elements of a lost level three that need to be strengthened. We have given some advice that I know the Prime Minister after the cabinet decision tomorrow has confirmed that that will happen as intended. One of the things that has come up is the use of masks in the workplace, which our advice, and I don't think it will surprise anybody, and will be welcomed by many, the use of masks in the workplace and really maintaining that distance. 2 m where ever possible lucky things. 

>>The other thing I would add is that we spoke the other week about how we have used level four for periods where we have previously used three. We are assessing whether they have cases and unlimited level three when we feel more confident. The greatest risk will be ensuring that we don't have people from level four environments come into areas where there will be operating in a Level 3 way. That is where the boundary is going to be important. At this stage we have a high confidence that the areas is opening up should be opening up. $$TRANSMIT

>>Has the Bluetooth function in the Covid dressing up been reviewed?

>>I don't have a breakdown but I know this is of interest. I know that there has been times where people have had Bluetooth turned on. Because of the number of cases, it was not necessarily a question our contact stresses were asking at the first interview. -- Contact traces. We have given them a nudge around that. It seems from the demographic of most of our cases, many of them did not have Bluetooth turned on but we are getting the numbers on that to share them. 

>> We have heard that a number of people have received a notification through the app? 

>> As of the 29th, there were over 100 alerts.  

>>There was reports from leaders being sideswiped by the government alert level decisions, was at a decision that was discussed with leaders prior to the announcement?

>> Yes there was. That is counter to the advice that I had received. There was discussion of that and we were interested of course in that. We wanted to make sure the content had been made and there were discussions around border issues and current alert levels, symptoms of around Level 3 and the four. The feeling that I had was the feeling of support around the decisions. I rely on those who are based locally but I not individually making those calls. 

>>On vaccinations, how many of those people are vaccinated? 

>>It is not a figure I have. $$TRANSMIT

>>I do not have a figure on the hospitalised people. I have been advised that there have been today. 

>>I have not been advised that anyone who was apostle has been vaccinated. 

>>And I asked on case numbers daily. I think it jumped up yesterday, should we expect numbers to stay at this level for a week? Is that in line with your modelling?

>>What I would say, as the Prime Minister said, over 50% of the cases are within households. Whereas, if you look at a number of very close contacts, I think it was 660, the figure I gave. Because of how infectious is variant is, we would expect between 50 and 100% of transmissions within households. Many of those people would now be isolating. And been tested, right up to the date while testing. We can expect that there will be a highest number of cases -- day 12 tests. That in itself is not unexpected and it is not necessarily a concern. We would be concerned as if we see cases popping up in the community. They will be the ones we are looking out for. People should expect that the numbers will stay up at about this level before they drop out again. 

>> The one thing that we want to keep reinforcing. Delta is more infectious it is more difficult, it is more dangerous. It is more important than ever that people follow the rules. Just because of the length of time and what we have seen with case numbers, no one should assume for a moment that they do not have COVID. We asked people to get tested when they are symptomatic, but before they even have any of those symptoms, there will often be infectious. Never be complacent. Always act cautiously like you might pass it on to the next person that you see because that is the way that Delta behaves and we all need to keep our game-high on this one if we need to get out of these restrictions as soon as we can. 

>>For those workplaces, how many infections have occurred at workplaces? 

>>My recollection from the numbers we have said is that they are not large numbers. They are small numbers of cases but I cannot give you a breakdown. 

>>To have an idea across the entire outbreak?

>>What we do know is that as you would expect, one of a very large events that we know transmission has occurred was very late in the piece just before we went into lockdown. As you can imagine, we would expect to see the impact of household transmission would increase over time. That is what we are seeing. Whilst I cannot give you the total number, we have seen it trending upwards. 

>>We had that number here. For the first five days, it was zero, zero, one, one, zero, and the total of the for hundred and 20 for cases that have been linked. Approximately 1/3, the key thing here is introductory. It is increasing proportion of cases which are household contacts.  R number below one, can you give that exact number?

>>We are happy to show the graph that shows the current data. It has got that current data in different scenarios. Based on the last three days of numbers, it is showing that the best fit is around 0.8. 

>>Everybody needs to keep their alert up, though. One of the things I would not leave the impression that everything is coming through at the moment, unknown contacts and household cases, we still have cases under investigation. We still have new locations of interest to build a map of what has happened. We still have cases coming through. This is to everyone, you have got to be vigilant. That might be you. We estimate that critical point. 

>>With several countries making vaccinations in the near future, if you had to slow down the rollout, does the booking platform take into account the supply questions?

>>We have just received another 320,000 doses from Pfizer so those to come in. We continue to have doses on hand. And what a team are working on are some different scenarios. Based on the strategy working around to ensure we can continue to meet demand. The on that, I will not say more beyond that's right now because it would be premature. I will give you an update early next week. 

>> Pushing at that long tail of -- covert.   

>>Every case worries me. If they did not know that they were at risk, where were they? We are seeing a proportion here which are essential workers and we are reliant on those workplaces do have the protocols that can ensure the safety of other workmates. There tends to be at the moment closed sites. Not custom interfacing. That is what we are intending to see. Delta is different. I not relying on anything we have seen before. Delta is different. We all need to be careful. I need those employers to be careful for their workers and their websites.      We were willing to make ourselves available and there were ways that we could provide that in a way that I think could meet the expectations we have set for the public. We are asking the public to do things different, and we should ask Parliament to do things differently. You will have seen the proposal. I think the needs of accountability and scrutiny, but in an online platform, it means we don't put staff at risk and those who are involved with convening Parliament. I am disappointed. I'm not willing without the consensus of parties to individually suspend Parliament again so I will participate despite the fact that I totally disagree with the position that they have taken .

>> Around the operation of liberal three and level for businesses. How they connected to trade with consumers so can there be any trade around the country and Auckland next week? 

>> This is going to be in area where even though a business is operating, there are parts of the country to continue to have that high roller level because they will only be able to continue to operate with those level for restrictions. It may interrupt supply chain made me interrupted delivery. I those parts of the country will understand we're doing that to keep everyone safe as possible and to get everyone back to normal as quickly as possible.

>> The rest of the study shows that the Pfizer vaccine after three months.

>> Which study was that? Sorry I interrupted. That was me genuinely scrutinising.

>> Other any plans to roll out a third booster shot?

>> The number of companies who have approved third booster shots is limited, number of talking about it but the number who have approved for the wider population. I'll have Doctor Bloomfield speak to the science .

>> We are watching closely. The experience in country like Israel that have had wide vaccination of the  population data. Then it is up to government about the timing of any booster doses .Back

>> We are keeping all our conversations going on lines open. These are always mutual conversations, so we want to keep them that way. Regardless, we are still seeing them hold up really well when it is preventing hospitalisations.

>> With the rampant demand for vaccines, is it possible that we will start accepting non- Pfizer as a way of keeping the vaccinations high?

>> Many of the drug companies coming into 2022 is a masterly different situation that has been in 2021. There has been issues with limited supply with new manufacturing and production coming on later in the calendar year, but next year looks like it's going to be a different proposition. We have however had a range of arrangements with different drug companies and what we will continue to do is look at the signs, some cases I have talked about whether or not you get better results through a third shot being a better alternative to those that we are first and second. We'll keep looking at the science to offer the best we can to New Zealanders.

>> I meant introducing a different jab at the moment is our vaccines are ramping up. One of our situations at the moment is continuing on with the Pfizer vaccine enables us  to maintain all the same make introducing other vaccines make the rollout harder. The extra demand we're seeing from New Zealanders at the moment, which is fantastic, and I'll be giving an update on the next week. 

>> More than 1000 countdown workers isolating and testing, you doing any sort of investigating into why these numbers are so high? 

>>. That is one of the only places you can go. All New Zealand families need to go to the supermarket at some point in time. Many of those close contacts were isolating will be coming out of that isolation period in the coming one or two days and they will resolve the pressure that has been on both countdown and other supermarkets because quite a large number of their workers have been required to isolate, and I'm grateful that they did follow those instructions.

>> We had Minister David Clark is maintaining close contact with our supermarket networks just to ensure that any challenges they are facing that we are able to support them and get in front of them. In some cases we can assure consistency of the public health guidelines for supermarkets, but at this stage one of the issues is as you can imagine won't be that uncommon that an exposure site might just be the time that someone visited the supermarket and that is why we have protocols in place and wider so important that when you visit the supermarket you keep your distance from others, scanning when you go, keep a mask on.

>> That's a big hypothetical you  presented. The question, sorry. I'll come back to you next week with the quick answer about how we will deal with the demand that we have.

>> Inaudible.. 

>> That is a no leave with Doctor Bloomfield.

>> We're getting vaccination tests to get those essential workers. In the case here we there are reservations or appointment set aside for essential workers. They can use the code to book an appointment slot that no one else can does a meme and they get their there is necessarily a special queue that they are going into for the procedures that are in place.. I was reading a report yesterday where someone said they got notified about a vaccination centre that had vaccines and they were all full and they weren't able to use those.. 

>> Who did I say I was going to come to? Jason, do you have a question?

>> Can you say whether they has been non- household infections and workplace infections during lockdown?

>> Infections that have come from people who are known to have covert and have breached

>> So outside the bubble infections?

>> We are doing a tally overall at the moment because every date goes down and then we get the new report so while they investigated it goes up slightly. I'll have Doctor Bloomfield speak to this and a bit more detail.

>> On the first question, there are cases that you are describing where early on it would have been people who were infected before we went into lockdown, did not know, and infected others. For example, they were essential workers. What is essential is five to seven days, at this stage we have no sense of whether there were people out who are not either essential workers or doing essential things where there may have been an infection, but we are doing more detailed analysis of it. That is not to say that there is not behaviour that we have not seen or detected through transmission. That is why will keep trends forcing and repeating the rules. It is important that people when they are a contacts to home. We'll keep looking into whether we see cases materialise from not following those instructions. 58 of our cases are linked. They tell us when they see new location of interest, that will knock out a number of unlinked cases because they can make that connection.

>> They have found the probable exposure event, but I cannot remember where it is.

>> For Doctor Bloomfield, do you know how many staff at hospitals are out of action because they isolating?

>> I do not know, and we can find that information out, one of the things we did do a week ago was make an amendment to the section 70 order to allow staff isolating not because they were direct contacts but because they were household contacts of contacts to allow them under certain circumstances to go back to it, but I do not have an updated figure on the number who are isolated from the hospitals.

>> The funeral directors Association is taught us that they have approached the government to allow people to view a body before a funeral. Is this something the government is actively considering?

>> I have heard that they have provided a proposal but I have not seen the detail. For us it would be dependent on public health and vice. This has always been one of the hardest areas of level IV, it is devastating for people to been a situation where they lose all of one and are unable to have a normal memorial service. We have been clear that those are really high risk situations, and we have had cases connected before to events where people are grieving and we don't want to add to that grief by additional COVID cases. I'm happy to pass on to a public team the proposal, but at the moment our goal continues to be to restrict contact is much as we can despite how hard it is.

>> We're actively looking at that, and I have some advice through from my team. At the start of this outbreak, because it was Delta, we went back to where we had started last year as a precaution, now we are a couple of weeks in, but also depending on what happens outside of Oakland -- Auckland Northland. We can look at this if it can be done safely and with the expectations and requirements would be.

>> It was understood you were not keen, what was your reservation ?

>> We want and need our testing to be part of our overall testing program. We need to be sure Festival that the testing, and remember we were talking about March, the tests were accredited and achieving the same sensitivity, but most importantly it was consistent with our overall testing approach, and at that time what was being proposed was not consistent with our  testing approach.

>> Is there official resistance to the alternative of a nasal swab?

>> Can you clarify the rules ?

>> That's quite a leap from COVID, and I know. Dot. Level IV, is posted generally the rules. I can recall that we asked people to refrain generally from fishing and activity like surfing, and they were associated with risk, and then a level III my recollection was that you are able to enter into shore and dwarf based. Whilst I don't have the specificity for white baiting, I imagine it would fall under that.

>> It was only those with customary rights to be able to do a level IV?

>> I think that was always the case a level IV was my recollection, that was as I recall available last time. I don't think it was specific to white baiting but to customary access. Has that requirement And fishing at Pacific alert levels is a very specific question. 

>> Why did you choose the word bubble to define staying together and what sort was put into the language? 

>> Bubble felt like a natural way to describe something that really needed to be contained. And if it was burst, it would be really problematic. It's a word that felt natural. It is not something we spent a lot of time thinking about. It was easy, accessible language, kind of language I would use to express a concept to anyone. Often, I find when I am talking to experts, if these words are easy to understand for me, that is what I will adopt that I was not using it. There is not much more to it than that. 

>> There are some newspapers reporting numbers with some accuracy before the 1 PM briefing. What do you think about that? $$TRANSMIT

>> For the management of an outbreak, a wide some people receive situational updates as part of our pandemic management. It is important. We need health ministers to be aware of what is going on, different people aware in our emergency services. That doesn't mean there are different amounts of red. It is important to me that we do everything we can to help managers pandemic. What happens around that, I just consider noise. 

>> On Friday, the National party puts a statement on managing the pandemic. 

>>Someone did brief me on that plan, but it did not strike me as anything different to what we were doing. 

>> (Inaudible) 

>> People in the older populations are more vulnerable and very soon everyone will be vulnerable. We just need to show up and get vaccinated. 

>> One of the things in the reporting on New South Wales, the report those infections in the community. For our outbreak, do you know how many were infectious in the community? 

>>I did report that I just used a different language. 25 of those had exposure events outside of the household. It would be wrong to say that they were breaching level four restrictions. The analysis of those cases tends to demonstrate that they are going to level four places and they are not public facing. 

>>That is different to 25 people who could have been outside their house while infectious. 

>>Is the latter. When they said that they have exposure events associated with them, that means they are generating new exposure events. Only some of those may become locations of interest in the community. They may have been exposure events where they were dropping something to a friend. It was done in a contactless way but they have been very cautious. 

>>That does not mean they have not been contact race as well. 

>>Do you know how many were essential workers? 

>>We have provided that number, and of all our cases in the outbreak, 87 have been identified as essential workers. Keep in mind, some of that maybe someone who was exposed at AUT or expose at one of our larger events who happened to be an essential worker. Just to be clear on that as well. We will keep doing that daily reflection and providing that information. OK. Thank you everyone.