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There are two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today, according to Public Health Director Caroline McElnay.
The numbers come as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern thanked the residents of Aucklanders, who came out of lockdown tonight, but also urged them to “move on” and do their part to keep the virus contained.
And he also received a warning: New Zealand will raise alert levels again if necessary.
Ardern also expressed anger at the failed test communications: Despite official advice issued on the government’s Covid-19 Facebook page last night, he said that everyone in South and West Auckland did not need to get tested.
Both new cases belong to the community and are linked to the Auckland group. One is a household contact of one of the already infected people.
The other is related to a Tokoroa case: they worked in a medical center. That center is closed while it is being cleaned. There are two other sites open in Tokoroa.
The person lived alone and has no household contacts.
There are 10 people with Covid-19 currently in the New Zealand hospital, two in the ICU.
There are 136 active cases in New Zealand, 117 in the community.
That means there have been 1,378 Covid-19 cases in New Zealand and 750,000 tests to date.
McElnay urged people who are advised to get tested for Covid-19 to do so. The tests are free.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there are still cases in the Auckland group.
“We hope that continues,” he said. He said the queue for this group “will be long.”
Ardern said 268,000 tests have been conducted since the group was identified and 2,475 people have been contacted since the new outbreak.
“We are still dealing with a single source and a single group.” However, that source has yet to be identified, Ardern said.
He said no links to managed isolation facilities have been found.
He said it was “very likely” that more Covid-19 cases were found in the Mt Roskil miniature cluster.
He said the Government has always said that New Zealand could be Tier 2 when there is an active cluster, and that our systems are good and designed for the existing scenario at the moment.
However, Ardern said the system only works if people are doing their part.
She said to Auckland, “thank you” but also, “keep going.”
He said there is “no corner” of Auckland that has not been affected by the group.
After 18 days, Auckland exits the level 3 lockdown at midnight tonight, essentially at level 2.5.
That means social gatherings will be limited to 10 people. “I can’t express how important it is,” Ardern said.
“IF we want to stop the spread, we have to stop socializing for some time.”
Starting tomorrow, people over the age of 12 must wear masks on all forms of public transportation, and Ardern urged residents of Aucklanders to follow those rules.
“Basically when you leave your house … we ask you to wear a mask.”
I would not rule out requiring the use of masks if people don’t wear them.
Ardern said he has “confidence in his team of 5 million” when it comes to whether or not the government will order the wearing of masks.
He said there will be strict restrictions on senior care facilities.
He asked Auckland residents not to attend mass gatherings across the country and said people needed to use their common sense.
He said it was “highly unlikely” that Covid was outside Auckland and “we want it to stay that way.”
Ardern said the government is also stepping up its response, highlighting that having a Covid QR code on a business is mandatory.
He asked anyone with cold or flu symptoms to get tested, and that people without symptoms will be asked to get tested in some parts of Auckland.
Ardern said: “We will raise the levels again if necessary.”
But he said if people do their part, that won’t have to happen.
“We need the 5 million team to help us get back to where we need to be. Our system is only as good as our people,” Ardern said.
Ardern said the government has “raised our expectations” of Auckland residents.
However, he said that the message was “wrong” in the advertisements and in the messages about people in South Auckland and West Auckland who needed to be tested, even if they had no symptoms.
He said the message still stands, but that the front-line message was an “oversimplification.”
She said she was “incredibly angry” about this.
He said there was an attempt to keep the message simple and that it was done “wrong.”
“We are not asking everyone in the west and south of Auckland to get tested.”
We are not asking 700,000 people to get tested, “he said.” It was a mistake “.
Ardern said that she did not sign all the communications.
She said it “has to be the case” that this does not happen again. “We cannot afford to post messages like this.”
She will work with the All Government department to solve this problem.
When told the information was still on social posts, Ardern said the team had been warned “a few hours ago” that this information was incorrect, so she will “follow” them on the Instagram post.
Ardern made it clear that it was the fault of the All of Government Covid-19 team. She said that the information seen in the ads and the publication was not made on the podium by a government minister.
He said he was answering his “last questions” at the press conference so he could go and fix the problem.
He said he has not been informed that the test sites have been overloaded.
And even though some public health experts said it was too early to move Auckland to level 2 tonight, Ardern said the Health Ministry has not informed the Cabinet that the move was premature.
Auckland will join the rest of New Zealand on Level 2 at 23:59. It was previously said that those levels will be revised on September 6.
