A truck driver who has travelled across the Auckland border tests positive for Covid-19, the first vaccination buses go on the road and gathering limits may increase under level 2 if Auckland moves down a level.
Photo: RNZ
A truck driver who travelled across the Auckland border has tested positive for Covid-19.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield revealed the case during the daily briefing saying the driver has recently travelled to Hamilton, Tauranga and Cambridge.
The driver was previously tested on 22 August. They work for food provision services and their contact was limited to deliveries and drop-offs.
Dr Bloomfield said the driver was tested after isolating as a household contact and health authorities are now trying to determine any locations of interest.
He said it underlines the important of testing at the Auckland border which becomes mandatory tonight.
Under the new rules the Ministry of Health will require all essential workers crossing the Auckland boundary to have had a Covid-19 test in the previous seven days, although they will not be required to show that they have tested negative, only that they have had the test.
Vaccination push
The first in a series of vaccination buses aimed at boosting the number of Covid-19 jabs in South Auckland went on the road today.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wants to see 80 percent of eligible Aucklanders with at least one dose by Monday.
Māori health leaders in Auckland say today's roll-out of buses and mobile clinics are part of a long-overdue vaccination outreach programme tailored to the needs of their communities.
The Waipareira Trust said the buses and mobile vaccination clinics form part of a programme designed to vaccinate Auckland's Māori and Pasifika, many of whom were working poor and unemployed ill-served by the health system.
Meanwhile, health experts say talk of a vaccination target before opening up New Zealand's border is unhelpful citing issues of vaccine inequity, long Covid and an unacceptable death rate from the disease.
Middlemore testing
Middlemore Hospital has begun testing new patients for Covid-19, with mobile testing units offering tests to all patients staying there, even asymptomatic ones, as well as to new patients.
The move was sparked by the investigation into unlinked cases in the outbreak - those with no known connection to current clusters - and to check whether the virus is circulating undetected in South Auckland.
The hospital's chief medical officer Pete Watson said it was part of surveillance testing happening in many parts of the city.
There were between 200 and 300 patients in hospital at the moment, with up to 50 a day likely to be swabbed who otherwise would not have been, he said.
MIQ spots
Sports teams, business people and entertainers have been putting pressure on MIQ at a time when many New Zealanders cannot return home due to the scarcity of MIQ rooms.
The Bangladesh cricket team, for example, will be able to visit New Zealand twice this year, before many New Zealanders are able to return at all.
Changes to improve the ability to access MIQ spots for overseas New Zealanders come in on Monday.
New Zealanders stuck overseas will have one hour to get in, where they will be put in a randomised queue and given a spot when they reach the front.
About 4000 rooms at a time will be released on a fortnightly basis, but people overseas who need to travel urgently can still apply for an emergency spot in managed isolation.
Gathering limits may increase under level 2
At the daily briefing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that if Auckland does move down an alert level next week, the rest of the country will see some easing of alert level 2 rules.
Ardern said as long as Auckland is at alert level 3 or 4, the rest of the country should stay at alert level 2.
Earlier in this outbreak, Cabinet changed the alert level 2 settings because of the Delta variant.
But if Auckland moves to level 3 next week, Cabinet would consider raising the amount of people allowed at gatherings in level 2 to 100 people, she said.
The stats
There are 13 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, all in Auckland.
There were also three border cases and two historical cases in managed isolation.
The Health Ministry said there have now been 996 cases in the current community outbreak - 979 in Auckland and 17 in Wellington.
It said 445 of the Auckland cases have now recovered, along with 15 of the Wellington cases.
There are 19 people in Auckland hospitals with the coronavirus, with four in ICU or HDU, all requiring ventilation.