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While New Zealand is on the cusp of the Alert Level Three transition, Director General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield has announced another day without a new case of Covid-19.
Only two people remained in the hospital, at Auckland’s Middlemore and North Shore Hospitals on Tuesday, but none were in intensive care, Bloomfield confirmed in the daily government update.
The national total of confirmed and probable cases remained at 1,497, with 93% of the country’s cases now considered recovered.
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Scene on High Street, Christchurch in preparation as the country shifts from Covid Alert level 3 to level 2.
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There were also no additional deaths to report, with a toll of 21.
“It reflects the breadth of our tests,” said Bloomfield.
She also paid tribute to our frontline nurses on International Nurse Day, part of the International Year of the Nurse and the International Year of the Midwife.
“We are celebrating our nurses now more than ever. It is very clear that having a good, strong and well-trained nursing workforce improves health outcomes for people, our whānau and communities,” he said.
“And every day, our nurses have played a critical role as part of our Covid response in recent months, in addition to the work they do, routinely providing fantastic care for New Zealanders.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who recognized “all Jenny’s around the world”, referring to Kiwi nurse Jenny McGee who cared for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his fight against the coronavirus .
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Bloomfield also paid tribute to our frontline nurses on International Nurses Day.
The government, earlier Tuesday, had announced the “biggest increase in funding for district health boards” to help eliminate the Covid-19 delay, because the lesson of the pandemic was a need to be ready, he said. Ardern.
The new financing of the 2020 Budget was worth $ 3.92 billion.
“We never know when the next virus or health emergency will come, but when it does come, we know it is worth having a world-class health system to deal with it,” Ardern said.
Ardern confirmed that a previously announced small business loan plan was now also officially open, and reported that the wage subsidy scheme had paid $ 10.7 billion to 1.75 million New Zealanders.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there will be support for the tourism sector in Thursday’s budget. Photo Shows: TSS Earnslaw at Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown.
There would also be “additional support for companies” affected by the ongoing alert framework, and the government would deliver a specific package for tourism.
On concerns raised by the tourism sector at Tuesday’s Epidemic Response Committee on when international visitors could return to New Zealand, Ardern said he wanted them to return, but that domestic tourism remained the priority.
On Monday, Ardern announced that Kiwis could go out to dinner, splurge at the mall, and even get a long-awaited haircut from Thursday.
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Funerals, tangihanga and weddings can only have 10 people at alert level 2.
But disappointment has been expressed in some quarters about the restrictions on numbers attending tangi and funerals at alert level two.
Numbers will be restricted to a maximum of 10 people, with Ardern acknowledging that this was the most difficult part of managing the reduction.
“The full definition is if they come together to be with each other, and there are circumstances where people just aren’t in the same space to mix and mingle, that’s risky behavior,” said Ardern.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged that setting restrictions for tangi and funerals was the most difficult part of establishing the level two alert framework.
“Look back at the areas where New Zealand has struggled with Covid – it’s been weddings, bars, social gatherings, and that’s where we’ve set the limits.”
Ardern added that the limit on funeral numbers at 10 was only made for a “very, very short period,” but the decision was made based on health advice.
On contact tracing, Bloomfield said he believed New Zealand was in the “gold standard,” with at least 80 percent of cases tracked.
On developing a national tracking system, Ardern said the work was underway.
He was also asked if he was concerned that New Zealand might see a second wave of Covid-19 cases.
After observing the phenomenon in Germany, Singapore and, more recently, South Korea, Ardern admitted that she was concerned.
“That is why we are making sure that we are prioritizing that people return to work, that their incomes flow again, but also that we manage risk, so that has meant some difficult decisions, but we hope that they are balanced”, said. .
Professional and semi-professional sports will start at Alert Level Two, but the Government intends to provide more details on how community sports will work on Tuesday night.
Regarding the media reports, the situation at Waitakere Hospital was a group waiting to happen, Bloomfield said it was important to learn from approaches and policies at the national level.
