Outbreak spreads to Taranaki, Pfizer applies to Medsafe for paediatric vaccine approval and police given until mid-January to be fully vaccinated.
Covid-19 round up, 12 November, 2021. Photo: RNZ
The co-owner of a Stratford pharmacy said staff had been busy vaccinating people, following news Covid-19 had spread to Taranaki.
Michelle Whittington, of Unichem Mackays Pharmacy, said the business had 15 bookings for vaccinations today but would do over 50, with lots of walk-ins.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson and Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay held today's media conference on the government's latest pandemic response, which included confirmation that Pfizer had applied to Medsafe to consider its Covid-19 vaccine for those aged between five and 11 years old.
Robertson said six DHBs had now hit the 90 percent mark for first doses of the vaccine and some others - like South Canterbury and Hutt Valley - were very close to that milestone.
Police staff were granted an extension of time to comply with their Vaccination Order, with those affected required to have a first dose by the end of this month and to be fully vaccinated by 14 January.
It was also announced Covid-19 had been detected in a water sample collected from Taupō on 8 November.
Outbreak spreads to Taranaki
Taranaki District Health Board medical officer of health Dr Jonathan Jarman said the group of six Covid-19 cases detected in Stratford and first announced by the Ministry of Health last night were very reluctant to get tested and had not been using the tracer app. One of those cases was in hospital.
All six cases were linked and there was also a clear link to the Auckland outbreak.
Robertson revealed that one of of the cases had travelled to Auckland to pick up another family member and taken them back to Taranaki to live with them.
Jarman said there had been 2284 tests done in the region since last Friday to try and locate the source, after the virus was picked up in wastewater testing.
"It was disease detective work," he told Morning Report.
The numbers
- There were 201 new community cases of Covid-19 today - 181 in Auckland, 15 in Waikato, 4 in Northland and 1 in Taranaki. Of today's cases, 92 remain unlinked.
- Five additional known cases in Taranaki will be included in tomorrow's official figures.
- 85 people are in hospital, including 11 in ICU. There are 19 in North Shore Hospital, 28 in Middlemore, 35 in Auckland, 2 in Waitakere and one in Taranaki Base Hospital. The average age of those in hospital is 53.
- 51 of those hospitalised were unvaccinated.
- One additional new case has been identified at the border.
Vaccine mandates
Robertson said the vaccine requirement for health and education workers starts next week and he wanted to thank the "vast bulk" who have already been vaccinated.
He said Cabinet had only chosen to make vaccination mandatory in the highest-risk settings, including education, because under-12s cannot currently be vaccinated but they can get Covid-19.
"In fact about 20 percent of the cases in the Delta outbreak have been children aged under 12, including babies."
Minister of Police Poto Williams said police had been granted an extension to the Vaccination Order covering their staff.
"The compliance dates for police staff who may be affected are 29 November 2021 for the first vaccination and 14 January 2022 for the second vaccination," she said.
"Police are assessing which staff fall under the Order and will be communicating with those staff shortly."
Robertson said vaccine requirements had commonly been used overseas.
"They work. And they're a key part of the vaccination drive in those countries with high rates of vaccination that we're trying to match."
Virus detected in Taupō wastewater
The Ministry of Health announced that a wastewater sample collected on 8 November in Taupō detected the virus, while a sample collected on 10 November was under investigation.
Anyone in the area who may have symptoms was urged by the ministry to get tested, even if they were vaccinated.