Thread by @covid19nz

COVID-19 update
There are no new cases of COVID-19 in the community and no cases in managed isolation to report today.
Sadly, we are formally recording the death of a patient with COVID-19 at North Shore Hospital, which was first announced on Saturday 13 February.

Our thoughts are with the family. A total of 26 people have died with COVID-19 in New Zealand. One previously reported case has now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 46. Our total number of confirmed cases is 1,981.

A new Resurgence Support Payment is being introduced to help businesses directly affected when there’s a move to Alert Level 2 or above for a week or more.

A decision on whether this support will come into effect will be made if there is an extension to the seventy-two hour increase in alert levels announced on Sunday night.

If it does come into effect it will cover the initial 72 hour Alert Level rise as well
Update on Auckland February cases
The three positive cases remain in quarantine at our Auckland facility.

Their household contact is in isolation at home under strict public health protocols and supervision.
Our intensive investigation around the potential source of transmission for all three cases continues. We have a number of scenarios we are pursuing.

Testing
There has been a surge in demand for testing. So far, all results are negative. A special thanks to all the hardworking staff at our testing centres, general practices and other clinics who continue to swab for COVID-19.

We also thank everyone who patiently waited for their COVID-19 tests yesterday and today.

It’s important the right people can get access to testing — so please don’t rush to a centre if you are well, or if you weren’t at one of the current locations of interest.
Information on where to get a test is available at Healthpoint.co.nz.

Healthpoint has all the testing locations and hours supplied by DHBs – it includes more than 1,100 testing sites nationwide, including most GPs.
If you have symptoms but have not been to a location of interest, stay home and call Healthline for advice.

Please be patient and to call back later if you can’t get through immediately.
On Monday, 5,818 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 4,380 tests processed.
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,595,770.

Contact Tracing
Contact tracing has now identified 109 close contacts outside the household.
Of these, 33 have returned a negative test and 74 results are pending.

The increase in the number of close contacts is because of our very precautionary approach to people classified as close contacts at one of the locations of interest. All contacts from this location have been identified and there is no public health risk.

More than 2,000 contacts have now been identified as casual plus and loaded into the national close contact tracing system. These include people who attended workplaces of Case B and C, Papatoetoe High School and other locations of interest.
Health Services remain open

New Zealand’s hospitals, pharmacies, GPs and urgent care clinics remain open to provide care to patients. We urge anyone needing medical care not to put it off.

All health services are regarded as essential and will continue as usual with an additional focus on infection prevention control measures and physical distancing of patients.

If you are unwell with the symptoms of COVID-19 please call your contact at the hospital or clinic before coming to an appointment. They will tell you what to do.

Transiting through the Auckland region
Travel in and out of Auckland is restricted to permitted travel only - otherwise you must stay in the region.
If you are an Aucklander, you can travel to Auckland to return home.

Police have established road checkpoints, which will be in place until midnight tomorrow.

If you wish to travel across the Auckland regional boundary to collect your family/ friends who are completing their 14-day stay at a Managed Isolation or Quarantine facility you will need an authorisation letter to allow you to travel at Alert Level 3.

Your family or friends in isolation/quarantine will be able arrange the letter for you through their on-site teams. You will need to provide this letter if asked at the checkpoints.
If you do not produce evidence at a checkpoint, you may be denied travel.
Historical cases

Since January 1, there have now been 29 historical cases, out of a total of 171 cases.
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,620,649 registered users. More than 1.1 million (1,147,193) people have now enabled Bluetooth.

Poster scans have reached 181,250,153 and users have created 7,435,475 manual diary entries.
It’s critical to keep track of where you’ve been and the COVID Tracer app is an easy way to do this.

Please continue to scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard if you haven’t already done so.