COVID-19 update 9 September 2021

>> Kia ora koutou katoa, good afternoon everyone.

Today I have details of additional vaccines en route to New Zealand but before I speak to that I will hand over to the Director General of Health to give the latest case numbers.

>> Thank you, prime minister. Kia ora koutou katoa. The Tongan language this week.

13 new community cases to report this week all in the Auckland region. It takes the total number associated with this outbreak two 868. Of those pleasingly 264 cases have recovered.

There are two cases to return in returnees in the managed isolation facilities.

To date we have 30 unlinked cases as we continue to work through the new ones and many of them first thing this morning and links are being Establishment is the end of the 13 new cases today over half have already had those links made to the current outbreak. One yesterday of the 15 cases we know that 12 are contacts of other cases and nine of these were household contacts. We also know that six were infectious in the community.

There are 31 people in hospital today all in the Auckland area and of these five are in intensive care or a high dependency unit and three currently require ventilation. Our thoughts remain with these people and their whanau and what is a stressful time for them.

Pleasingly estimate there were 17,684 tests processed across the Motu and 482 swabs taken in the Auckland region. This is a further increase from yesterday and again is fundamental for us to get confidence that the outbreak is controlled.

Our public health team and clinical teams are widening the scope of surveillance to large essential workplaces to help rule out undetected committee spread and I want to thank those companies working with our teams to get those properly in place. They include today for example pop-up testing sites to test staff at a couple of Auckland supermarkets with the third one tomorrow. They are at the moment for workplace staff only and a reminder to anyone in Auckland that there are still 23 community testing sides operating as well as general practices and urgent care clinics to for you to get tested.

Of the 38,126 people who have been formally identified and included in the contact tracing system, around 87% have had a test already in the public health units around the country are following up on anyone who has outstanding results.

Staff continue to deploy from around the country to support the Auckland DHBs and there were three ICU nurses on Sunday and a further five are deployed next week to help support the Auckland DHB effort and I want to thank all of those staff are putting up their hands and many others are in the pipeline to deploy if required.

A quick update on the case that was identified in hospital over we can accommodate three test results from 124 patients who were considered possible contacts and 29 staff members and those of all returned negative. All 149 of those contacts remain in isolation.

I would like to move to scanning and give a shout out to the many businesses who are displaying QR codes where they are very visible and also accessible to everyone. I would like to encourage all organisations that are displaying QR codes to make sure they are at the right height, at the top of the poster, 130 cm from floor level as per the guidance on the ministry website so they are accessible to everyone including people using wheelchairs.

Finally we saw a big jump in scans yesterday as the country moved to alert level II with 1.6 million scans measured yes they. Not quite the record set last September so we can keep up the good work and aim to beat that and scan away please.

Thank you.

>> Thank you Doctor Bloomfield.

As you can see we are making solid progress. A few days ago I mention the three things we need everyone to keep doing.

Getting tested, following alert level rules, and getting vaccinated. The testing numbers have picked up in recent days which is fantastic. If we are to have the confidence we need that the Delta outbreak is under control we need to test, test, test. As well as 22 pop-up testing centres operating throughout Auckland and numerous primary health care providers you will hear us speak to ongoing community-based surveillance opportunities and we will share the details over the coming days as well.

As for the rules, we have seen that if you give Delta an inch it will take a mile. Please keep up all the scanning, mask wearing and sticking to the rules and guidelines do matter where you are in the country.

As Doctor Bloomfield has said, even with some parts of the country still in heavy restrictions in Auckland, we have seen really good scanning numbers elsewhere, a good early first line but please do keep that scanning and record keeping up, it is one of the most important tools we have for contact tracing in the Delta environment.

To vaccines, I have an update. I am pleased today to be able to give you the latest information on our work securing early vaccine supplies which will allow us to maintain but also build on the record levels of vaccinations we have seen since the outbreak began. As I mentioned earlier in the week, work has been going on behind the scenes with other countries for a couple of weeks now. Today I can announce the first part of that work.

Last night we completed the final details of an agreement with Spain. It will see New Zealand receive over a quarter of a million dollars is of the Pfizer vaccine. In addition to our scheduled deliveries.

Those a quarter of a million dollars has departed Madrid at 1 AM New Zealand time and are due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow morning. I can tell you they are on track because I have been following the shipments movements on a flight Tracker.

With the supply we will be able to continue our roller at significant or even record high levels. This is the first of two deals we have been working on.

The second is an even larger order and I anticipate being able to share details of it in the next week or so.

I want to thank the government of Spain in particular president of Spain and I would like to acknowledge Spanish and European Union officials and the team advisor and the team in New Zealand who have all make it happen they have been working around the clock literally day and night.

While I cannot go into details of the future arrangements I can say for now that with the assurance of these extra doses we can keep going with the speed until our big scheduled deliveries arrive in October, as you will recall, we are working hard to bridge the constraint we had across the course of this month.

As I said on Tuesday, on busy days since the outbreak began we have been vaccinating more people per capita than countries like the UK, the US, Australia and Canada did at the peak of their rollouts. In part this is due to a determined and dedicated group of vaccinated is working long days every day to keep the population save and I want to thank those workers. It is also thanks to the millions of New Zealanders who have showed up and did their bit for the team.

It means that 89% of people aged 65+ have been vaccinated with at least one dose, 89%. 77% of those aged 40+ have had at least one dose. What I find really heartening given that we only opened up to everybody on September 1 is that 64% of people aged over 12 have had at least one dose.

We do however want to keep going which is why officials and agencies have been working so hard as I have said to secure doses that allow us to do that but the rest is up to a full stop as I stand here today, Auckland is into its fourth long week of the level IV lockdown. The rest of the country has to adapt to a new Delta level II with tighter but necessary rules and limitations. These alert levels are a good ruling and hard work and I know we all want to avoid them in the future.

That is why we need everyone who can be to be vaccinated. High vaccine uptake is part of our path to opening back up confidently. I have been asked often, what is the magic number? How many need to be vaccinated? My answer is everyone. Partly is because I hate the idea of one preventable death. With the vaccine, we note that the chances of someone's life been taken by COVID-19 is dramatically reduced. It is more than that. If everyone who can be vaccinated is vaccinated, you are potentially saving the life of someone who cannot be.

There have been many devastating stories in this outbreak including the case of a one year old child who fell ill with the virus and in fact 121 of the New Zealanders who have tested positive in the last three weeks are under nine years old. These are children who at this stage cannot be vaccinated. So they need us to be. All of us.

In 2020 the COVID response led the world and in 2021 I want the world. , If you are in a sports team, you can encourage your teammates to be vaccinated, if you are a faith leader, that wants your congregation to be able to continue to worship together, you can encourage your congregation to be vaccinated. We now have enough vaccinations to vaccinate everyone in New Zealand. Now it is up to us. If you have not already been vaccinated, there are a range of places that you can be vaccinated, GPs, community pharmacies, more primary key sites are coming on every day, along with drive- through's. Walkins and drive through the welcome in Parkside.

The first in a series of Pacifica vaccination events started today. There are also walk in clinics in Hamilton, Wellington, and a number of other sites around the country. To everyone, if you are not yet vaccinated, make a booking, drop into a site that allows walkins today. Let's make sure we look after one another.

Happy to take questions.

>> At Middlemore Hospital, we know that staff... A patient had to be discharged early. Are you worried about this?

>> What I can say is that the health system has been preparing for a search like this, the Auckland region has coped very well, it has support from around the country. Of course, we are just coming out of winter, you would have seen only four to six weeks ago, our health system with dealing with quite a big outbreak of RSV, particular amongst children. It is used to adapting, making sure that everyone who needs to can have their care. I'm confident that the health system has been prepared for this resurgence, I think this is a big outbreak, it has done very well. The future, of course, is to make sure that the response can be sustained, especially as the population gets more highly vaccinated, we start to move through the pathway to reconnecting to the world mac we have got a lot of ongoing work around this.

>> Also, 1/3 patient in the room, is it an issue that the government and hospital manage things poorly? How do you feel about this?

>> I have never characterised it in that way. I don't think that is a fair characterisation. What I believe happens is that in these stressful environments, we have seen a situation where staff have as much as possible tried to do the right thing, they are screening as people came in, there were certain symptoms, that was shared with them. They have then undertaken some testing, in the aftermath of that, seeing that they had a COVID-19 positive case. In hindsight, we are looking at what else could have been done. We do have clinicians that are working, in a difficult environment, they are doing the best they can with the information that they have at the time. We will always be looking back and reflecting on what we can do better.

>> There was the reporting of a story on Pacific people, M MiQ, there is a partnership with Pacifica futures, why did it take so long? Why did things get that bad?

>> Pacifica Futures were already involved, it did not cite yesterday, it has been in place for a little while. I will perhaps get Dr Bloomfield to speak to some of what we understand has happened in this case, then if you have a more general question I can speak to that.

>> I think the key point I would like to make is that there is clinical expertise on- site at all about quarantine facilities 24 seven, that includes GPs, nurses and other practitioners, in this case, the person was assessed more than once, including by a GP. I'm glad that the health needs will look after, at the time that it was required, they were transferred to hospital, they are doing well in hospital. I cant confirm that Pacifica Futures has been involved -- can confirm, since last week, in a range of ways. I think it has been very helpful in addressing some of the concerns that some of the families have.

>> You saw a need their to plug those gaps, did we move fast enough to get that support in place two

>> I think the one thing I would say is that our managed isolation facilities have had over 160,000 New Zealanders enter into them from a range of different places, a range of different walks of life. What we of course recognise is it is not just enough to have information provided in multiple languages. What we are seeing with this outbreak is that it is very different to have someone who knows that they are coming into a facility for a number of weeks, as opposed to someone who gets information only hours before that they need to go into quarantine, they are also grappling with the fact that they have COVID-19. They likely have to bring their family with them. It is a stressful and difficult environment with little room for error. We have Matt to make sure that we are catering for the differences with M MiQ, we are utilising those community providers, there are always things that we can improve and fix.

>> ...

>> We are always trying to make improvements to the system, working hard with families as they go into isolation, so they know what to expect, what they need to bring with them, care and services they will receive in the facility, that bridging and support beforehand has proved to be very useful, recognising it is a quarantine facility, people coming and going is constrained but that does not mean we cannot provide support.

>> In terms of future plans regarding Delta, do you see the potential for more M MiQ, also, can you talk about comments that border reopening may still be an issue?

>> I think the minister was referring not to a change in position, but the ongoing acknowledgement that with variants of concern, we need to make sure we are risk assessing, his reference was to the fact that we have this reconnecting framework, which remains in place, but within that, we have country risk assessments, a reference to the important of the risk assessment for each country, with these variants of concern, individual cases of data are extremely problematic, you have to build that into the risk profile for each country.

>> That is quite a key component, different quarantine and isolation components, as an integral part of that response, phasing and offering different options ...

>> It is not that you are a traveller, again as I say, it is all built into the framework already. It is just than what those individual country profiles look like in the way that we are risk assessing. Vaccine status is one of the most important factors.

>> How does the vaccine rate affect responses?

>> Accepting of course there are start -- still parts of the world that have a very different risk profile to other parts of the world. What we have always said, within the risk framework, we have always been willing to adapt to elements of concern, our reopening plans have not dramatically changed, I would say that is not the case, we just have to build in, as I say, the impact of Delta.

>> With M MiQ, does Delta mean that there is a likely ability to affect their work?

>> I do not see it affecting the capacity, but we are always looking to reduce risk, numbers are one way, there are other levers, we are constantly assessing those,. I think there are probably more initiatives that we can introduce their.

>> What prompted you to change your advice around departure from NSW?

>> Actually, that was always the intention, when we put up the advice initially around people flying back from NSW who are coming into M MiQ, all of Australia was, effectively had an exemption from pre-departure testing, we use it in a couple of settings, people flying from Sydney and Victoria, at different times, we have done the work to take Australia off the list for pre- departure testing, that program has now come to its conclusion, the decision has been made to require pre-departure testing for people flying from Australia.

>> You responded to me saying that you had taken into account the risk factor, at the time, NSW in early July, you are now in an environment we have 1500 cases a day, how is that environment less risky now?

>> Can I jump in there, we don't seem to be acknowledging the fact that when we made the decision around pre-departure testing requirements, people had, for quite some time, been unable to travel from NSW to New Zealand. We decided to put on sites -- flights, but the amount of time that people had to get on those flights was a short window of time, from my recollection, that was part of the issue as well, the availability of those flights that we were opening up, in order to get people then into a quarantine facility. That coupled alongside the work around the risk profile, roughly 38 cases a day, going to get testing, when again, testing in an environment where you are asking for a pre- departure test, those are all of the factors their. I think I just cut off Dr Bloomfield.

>> To reiterate, at the time, are considered public health assessment was that because we were putting in place a requirement for those people to come into quarantine, day one testing and all those other measures, there was not a need for pre-departure testing at that time for people flying out of Sydney .

>> As to what you have I said, the period that the flights and four was five weeks, people would have had 72 hours, the cases were at 38 a day, there are 1500 now, the expectation is that there is a period...

>> You want to know why we did not bring that in?

>> You're brought it back in now, but the risk factor, you have both said to me that it was about the risk factor, about people picking up COVID-19 if they got it test, constraints on taking a flight, I'm trying to understand where there are 15 cases -- 1500 cases a day, how is that environment less risky than when there were 38 cases a day?

>> Inner self you have answered your own question, you have pointed out it was not just one factor, there were multiple reasons we were given that advice at that time. It was not just the single issue of what constituted the greatest risk for individuals, there were other factors in play, including the timing of the flights.

>> The risk and the factor, that risk is no longer affecting now?

>> The risk has increased.

>> As I said, we signalled right back when that advice was given that also, Australia should be taken off the list of countries with an exemption for pre-departure testing, the timetable was laid out, the process has been implemented. I want to Intereach -- reiterate, pre- departure testing is part of a suite of measures that we do to reduce the incursion of a into New Zealand. That did not have 01 testing was even more important because of the risk that people could be affected subsequent to the test but early on in incubation period.

>> This will be the last one.

>> You said to me that that was a reduction in the amount of COVID cases coming into MIQ as seen through those days 01 Tess I do not know if that's marries. In terms of the advice that you gave about the flight running next week, when did you get that into MIQ to the government whoever it was that predeparture test should resume again?

>> Can I check we gave specific advice around the flight or that it is captured in the fact that we were removing Australia from the list of countries exempt from predeparture testing and on the former point, yes we saw a reduction in cases coming forward at the time predeparture testing was introduced earlier in the year but only from people travelling from the UK or the US which with the highest number of cases imported at that time.

>> Sorry com I did say Ben. Sorry, Ben Fawcett

>> The swapping deal with Spain you have spoken of your you announce the deal with Spain, and you privily spoke of your personal admiration for the present and your relationship with them, did that involved the government contacting you do reach out personally to him how did you land on Spain?

>> There are a number of factors of course and I do not think it is fair to describe any place in the world necessarily as having surplus doses. It is a matter of different places in the world at different stages in the vaccine rollout. Of course the goal of everyone is to make sure that all of those doses are being utilised and that is what everyone is working towards, the utilisation of those doses. And so part of our thinking was not just where we might be able to maximise the utilisation of the doses but it also mattered where doses were manufactured, we needed to get as close to the regulatory alignment with the production of those doses that they could match our existing approvals so that immediately narrows the number of places that might be receiving from similar sites of manufacture and therefore we could match our batches with. Quite complicated. It is better to say that there was some leader to leader engagement and I do not think that was necessarily determinative. Gedit so -- it just so happens that there were relationships that meant I could have those conversations and I did so. And sometimes it is possibly, I cannot possibly that speed things up.

>> For the vaccines that Australians ended up dealing with from Singapore and the UK? Rheed Idun here the first but also

>> In the mix previously for the vaccine that Australia ended up.

>> I could not say definitively. It is fair to say we had a number of early conversations and some of those were to narrow down because we had very specific windows and it was those two weeks in September because of course we have the large doses coming in October. That is when we were looking for particularly the availability of doses, the ability to deliver in that timeframe all of the legal and regulatory requirements so that it merely narrowed the conversations quickly. As I have said, the next agreement we are working on is larger than this one. We have good confidence in conjunction that the two of them can carry is to.

>> How concerned are you with freight supply for a maintenance later in this month leading just one operation involved in the effort?

>> No one has raised concerns with me over that issue and of course as you would expect routine maintenance of course we would always be seeking those involved to have an eye to impact on our supply chain particular given environment we are in at the moment.

>> Can you clarify the rules for hairdressers? There is confusion in the industry about whether a client is in the chair with the stylist they have to take, keep the mask on?

>> The stylist, is the person who is to wear the mask and we have been thinking about this. Head of the we can. It would be hard to have a haircut, whatever gender you are.

>> Are you due for a trim?

>> That is what Twitter says. If you have a mask looped around your ears. It is definitely a requirement on the person doing the hairdressing.

>> We have pragmatic conversations about these issues when we work through them as a cabinet.

>> The nurses union is concerned about the visitor policy at Auckland Hospital and they have asked work safe to get involved, should this policy be changed?

>> I will let Doctor Bloomfield speak to that. I was asking similar questions.

>> Two things. First ball one of my staff members made contact with the NZ after they wrote to me last week and they spoke to the DHB there and what I can say is that Auckland DHB visitor approach to visiting is consistent with our national policy and we have encouraged and I think they are proceeding to the NZ to resolve the concerns and issues they have and at the same time our team is working with people from across the DHBs to review and revise the visitor policy in light of the Delta as we are doing with a lot of our work and that work is being concluded today. There will be updated guidance which it will be our job to make sure the district health boards have got that and it is a set of principles and guidance and of course we also rely on them to apply discretion in individual cases as long as they meet the requirements which are keeping people safe including staff and visitors and patients.

>> Sexual relations between a patient and a visitor at Auckland Hospital, would you say that this is a high risk activity in the current climate?

>> I think it is a high risk activity potentially however I do not know any of the details about that interaction.

>> I was a generally regardless of the COVID status, that kind of thing should not generally be part of visiting hours, I would have thought.

>> We spoke to a team, positive cases and managed isolation at the moment, just it is a bit of a tough one. What is your message to those whanau members with different rooms and struggling with things?

>> We have talked about this on calls because it is hard enough to be told that you and your whanau have COVID and to also then know that you are going to have to go into a managed facility and that we may not be able to keep everyone together, that is really hard. I know the teams in our managed isolation facilities do their very best but for the whanau in the circumstances I want to say thank you, thank you for your patience and thank you for everything you are doing to help us through what I know is a very tough time.

>> We have talked about the need for Maori to get vaccinated and get tested how important do you think that telling those types of stories is going to be to lift the number of Maori vaccinations? What is the governor going to do, talk to families and try to spur them on?

>> Of course. The more willingness we have from everyone to talk about the experience with COVID-19, it is one thing for us to stand up here and talk about it, but I have not had COVID-19. I have not had the experience of getting that phone call to tell you you have COVID and I am sure the fear that it creates in people, I have not had to stand alongside a hospital bed or see someone in my family with COVID-19. Those are the stories that we all need to hear because that is the reason we need everyone to be vaccinated. I have not had Luke and I will come to you.

>> Just firstly on the terrorist, you said last week that everything we have done to keep the terrorist in jail and the public safe other police and bailing to stick to your position that everything was done possibly?

>> Eskom I do. I have seen the police's explanation for those circumstances and my recollection is that they had previously sought bail but I would want to go and check their accounts again. Of the circumstances. I know part of the rationale as well was that their view was that they had exhausted all this legal challenges, channels, and needed to begin preparing for what they perceive to be an inevitable release at some point into the community. Keep in mind he had been kept in prison for three years. And large portions on remand.

>> Just on with the firstly, we paid the same price for the vaccine as we have paid for Pfizer with a bit of a finder's fee and for Doctor Bloomfield, is in specific advice about person-to-person interactions in the mental health space because obviously mask wearing can be a bit of a barrier in making those interactions more difficult just curious about that as well.

>> On the committee arrangements, obviously there is going to be a limitation to what I can talk about their. What I can clarify is that very much New Zealand was going out and seeking the additional doses. That might help impart enter one of your questions around finders fees. Otherwise what I would say is that our experience here is that essentially the European commission and those countries who are looking to make sure that there is no wastage are working really in good faith, that is all have seen, nothing but good faith. And the expense we have had.

>> Just around precautions really where there is face-to- face interaction for mental health consultations. Yes I imagine mask could be a challenge their. And the important thing is that people take the sort of precautions that would be taken in any clinical consultation and that may include using physical distancing but the most important thing is for anyone seeking care is of course if you have symptoms that could be related to COVID- 19 is to stay at home and get tested first. And a lot of interactions in mental health advice and interactions and sort of consultations at the moment are being done by video as well as the moment.

>> Justify may I have in front of me now the additional explanation you asked regarding Friday's Terrace. At the time he was sentenced and the High Court in July At the time he was sentenced and the High Court in July 21 had been in custody on those judges since August 2018. And the start point for sentencing was set at seven months imprisonment he had been in costly relation to the District Court judges for 10 months so given the nature of the remaining allegations in the District Court imprisonment for 10 months was more than the equivalent of any custodian sentence that would have been imposed for that offending. I can give you that written in full. I believe that is information we can.

>> There is a bit of a ballpark and how much we have paid, hundreds of thousands, millions?

>> Of course New Zealanders's interest would be that we are ensuring that as we always are in these commercial arrangements negotiating with the taxpayer in mind. But it would not serve the New Zealand public to if I were to I think reveal the outcomes of some of those commercial negotiations. What I will do is see just how we look to represent some of the overall because you have seen previously we have talked about the overall spending on the vaccine programs are how we might represent that. Again, this is really been a good, I have seen nothing but goodwill. I have seen that represented at every element of the arrangement full stop I will let you have another one.

>> What other leaders have you spoken to about getting vaccines?

>> I will speak to that at the time when we talk about that arrangement because I have been engaged with the second arrangement as well. But that actually, actually it has been those we have been progressing that I have had contact with.

>> With the buy in vaccines from other countries riding then Pfizer it comes at a significant premium over buying straight from Pfizer?

>> No. I would say you could see the fact that I am using language like good faith and so on that what I'm trying to imply is the answer to your question would be no. I will come back to.

>> On the vaccine, how much of that will go to the Pasifika.

>> One of the things that we have done as a cabinet will is that we will support our Pacific neighbours with the under 12 vaccination so it does enable us to do that in a timely way and we are working through the timing because in some cases we will need to provide physical support for

>> We have made provisions for that in our supply. I will see if I can get you more detail for the.

>> I understand that some vaccination drives are specifically targeted?

>> A huge support for both the teams that are setting this up and also the people that are coming to be vaccinated. I saw a photo from early this morning for an event that is happening today, the queue of cars, great to see the response that people are taking up the risk -- opportunity.

>> Is there anything that has happened since August that will push out the timetable for next year, including the trials for home isolation?

>> On the overall timeframe, no. If anything, we are seeing a vaccination program speed up. The quicker we can move through the, the more flexibility. On the self- isolation pilot, that is continuing. I have seen extra briefings come through for decisions on that. What we are mindful of, though, we want to deliver that in an environment that is not liberal free. It would call on our health resources, we are aware that it is a bit more constrained, we will be thinking about that.

>> Do you expect public servants to come back to work, to Wellington ?

>> You will remember that that has always been our position. Different departments will be issuing different guidance, sometimes I noticed that different things start on a Monday, bringing things back with guidelines, that has often been our urging,.

>> You have asked for an explanation as to why the terrorist was in custody when he was only given a 10 month sentence ?

>> There is additional information that is alongside what I was sharing with you, I can provide that permission to you. If I recall correctly, he had one set of charges relating to objectionable material imposition of a knife, he received bail for that, immediately upon release he bought a knife again, went back, face charges again, and on that occasion was not granted bail, he immediately reoffended upon release. Over the course of his romantic period he also assaulted corrections officers, there were multiple charges he was facing, layers, that were the cause of him being him kept in prison for the period. He was also offered mental health support whilst in prison, but that was not accepted back

>> We sought clarification from the Minister yesterday whether a hospitality venture with a function room can be classified as a private social gathering or if it applies under the nightclub restrictions?

>> Two men at the same time?

>> If you can host a private function, a slightly more relaxed social gathering .

>> But the same numbers are attached for consistency.

>> The principal here is if the facility has been hired as a room, venue, it could be considered a private function. If hospitality services are being provided, food and drink being provided by the establishment, it is hospitality venue, and I would expect that the normal considerations would apply around spacing and seating ,

>> Let's get some confirmation of that, for example, for a wedding, things may be hired in that nature. We may have some examples. You mind if we get back to you on that ?

>> Perhaps a disparity between the advice and some of the enforcement?

>> If you could provide us with those examples that would help us little bit .

>> It should be different to what we have been doing previously, the only thing that has changed is the Four hospitality .

>> In terms of enquiries, the opposition leader has asked about a public enquiry?

>> Some of the rationale by the opposition leader I disagree with, the statement in part to sport that is that a misrepresentation of the immigration law, in the question of an enquiry, we have not rule anything out at this stage, really, what I am waiting for, there are multiple agencies, external entities that have the ability to enquire into this. We have not yet seen the way or the breadth of the enquiries, the way they may operate. I really want to see that detail. We may find that either they cover the full breadth of what we need to look into, or we may find that there is a specific gap .

>> When will that start?

>> In terms of the timeline, these entities have the ability to review individually, there is the ombudsman, the Ipca, the coroner, I want to see the breadth of the network, if there is a gap, we will fill it, otherwise they make cover everything we need to know.

>> Regarding contact tracing data, what is the specific legislation that protects people from data being used? Or do we just take your word for it?

>> You don't need to take my word for it, I know that Nestor Hipkins was seeking more information on this matter. -- Minister Hipkins.

>> When people use the app, the data that is collected from the scans, entered manually, does not go anywhere, it says on their phone, it is only release with their permission once they receive a message that suggests they may have been in a location of interest. The data right from the start has been protected, the privacy Commissioner has approved that as a feature of the use of the app.

>> Thank you very much everyone.