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Two other community cases; 3 cases in Managed Isolation; more than 55,000 doses of vaccine administered
There are two new cases of COVID-19 in the community to be confirmed.
This is in addition to the five previously reported cases. This brings the total community cases to seven at this point, all of which are included in the national tally today. All cases are transferred safely to an isolation center in Auckland, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.
In addition, there are three new cases of returnees in managed segregation.
The two new community cases, a 21-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, both returned a positive test today (August 18). Both are located in Auckland.
These two cases are linked to previously reported community cases. Public health officials are conducting interviews to establish more details about how these new cases got infected and to determine more details about their movements.
Case A is now in a quarantine facility in Auckland. Subsequent testing of Case A again returned a positive test result.
The wife of Case A, reported yesterday, who is fully vaccinated, has returned a negative test result again.
Of the community cases reported to date, four have been tested after becoming ill and seeking health care and three after being identified as contacts.
Movements of the additional cases reported earlier today continue to be investigated. Investigations are also continuing at Auckland City Hospital, where one of the cases worked for four shifts during her infectious period.
The hospital activated plans last night to prevent the spread of the virus within the hospital. DHB has put an end to unnecessary movement between departments and is testing all staff and patients in the department the staff member worked on. DHB is also withdrawing, testing and isolating personnel in the same department.
The ministry understands this morning’s news that one of the cases being treated at Auckland City Hospital may raise concerns.
However, anyone in need of urgent medical attention will be safe in our hospitals now as they would be at all times, including the Auckland City Hospital.
While elective surgeries and non-essential outpatient hospital appointments are currently postponed in hospitals across the country, anyone in need of urgent medical attention – such as a medical emergency or childbirth – should follow normal procedures.
At alert level 4, many appointments or interactions with health services can be virtual.
Dial 111 or go to a hospital emergency room. Hospital staff are
work and be able to provide the care you need. They have put in place measures to safely manage care at Alert Level 4.
And as you normally would, if you have a health problem that is not an emergency, please call your GP or call Healthline on 0800 611 116.
Pharmacies also remain open at alert level 4.
Additional testing resources are being put in place across the country and symptomatic people no matter where they are in New Zealand, particularly in the Auckland and Coromandel region, or who have been in a place of illness. interest are invited to get tested.
The key message of the last confinement remains relevant: ‘stay at home, save lives, be tested. This will stop any undetected spread in the community.
Only leave your home if you need to and wear a mask when you do.
New border cases identified at the border
| Arrival date | Of | Going through | Day / reason for positive test | Managed isolation / quarantine location |
| August 4 ** | Serbia and Montenegro | United Arab Emirates | Day 13 / routine | Pullman, Auckland |
| Aug 13 | Philippines | Singapore | Day 3 / Routine | Jet Park, Auckland |
| Aug 13 | Serbia and Montenegro | United Arab Emirates | Day 3 / Routine | Commodore Hotel, Christchurch |
** This case is under investigation for the source of infection
Contacts search
Auckland public health staff are working hard on the essential work needed to investigate cases in the community.
They interview cases, identify their contacts, trace those contacts and make sure they are isolated and tested. Isolation, when at alert level 4, means isolating yourself from other members of the household.
This work is continuing at a steady pace.
As of 11 a.m., Auckland Regional Public Health had 16 identified contacts. Of these 16, 14 were contacted. Two are in the process of being located and contacted. One of the 14 contacts tested positive and they are included in the case update provided previously.
Two contacts returned negative test results, and the remaining 13 are isolated and tested. Of the 16 contacts, we know that four are fully vaccinated; three had a dose; and the rest are not vaccinated – reflecting that the majority of these people would not have received the vaccination yet due to the fact that they did not yet meet the eligibility requirements for vaccination.
These numbers are expected to increase.
Details of the places of interest identified to date are available on
, which will be updated as more places of interest are identified.
The ministry’s website will also include tips on what to do if you were in one of these locations when you might have been exposed. SMS alerts are currently being sent to people who have scanned using the COVID-19 Tracer app at locations during the relevant times.
Please call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 if you have been potentially exposed and for advice on testing.
Whole genome sequencing
Initial whole genome sequencing performed on a sample from Case A overnight showed it had the Delta variant and is linked to the New South Wales outbreak.
Further investigations continued this morning and the ministry is working closely with ESR to determine the source of these infections.
ESR is also examining recently arrived cases from New South Wales to determine if there is a possible link.
Waste
The results of the wastewater samples taken at Rosedale on the north Auckland coast are due today. Daily samples are now taken from this site.
ESR has also increased the wastewater samples they collect at other sites around Auckland.
Composite sampling of Whitianga and Coromandel town is being put in place today and further samples are being collected from Coromandel in Pauanui, Tairua and Whangamata. Sampling at the Thames will be underway tomorrow.
The first results of the samples can be expected on Friday. ESR plans to take three samples over the next three consecutive days.
Wastewater testing continues at ESR’s 26 other sites across the country, including its new sites announced on Monday including Whangarei, Gisborne, Tauranga, Taupo, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill.
Test
Please get tested if you have visited a place of interest or have symptoms of colds and flu.
All Auckland community testing centers continue to operate for extended hours today and will remain open until 8 p.m.
Four additional pop-up community testing centers opened this morning in Devonport, St Lukes, Wairau Valley and Albany and will remain open into the evening.
Testing is underway in the Thames and Coromandel township, including two contextual testing sites, and additional testing centers are quickly being set up across the district.
Contextual testing sites are open in Coromandel Township and the Thames, and an additional testing center has been set up at the Claudelands Event Center in Hamilton.
Please call Healthline on 0800 358 5453. And go to
to find your local test station they will be updated during the day
We know that on the first day of testing, systems can take a long time to boot and the queues can be long. Please be prepared to stand in line for a while – wear a mask, take food and water with you, grab a book to read or something to watch, and be patient and kind. Everyone is doing their best at the test stations, but the first day always tends to be busy.
DHB is working on additional testing capacity across the country.
For up-to-date information on testing locations in Auckland, including visiting time, visit
and for more information on Coromandel test stations, please visit
https://www.waikatodhb.health.nz/your-health/covid-19-in-waikato/cbac/
. For all nationwide testing sites, visit the
.
The total number of COVID-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,571,452.
Yesterday, 7,057 tests were processed across New Zealand.
The seven-day moving average is 5,162.
Immunization update
Yesterday (August 17), a daily record of 55,688 doses were administered. This includes 35,499 first doses and 20,189 second doses.
More than 2.61 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to date (until 11:59 p.m. on August 17).
Of these, 1.65 m are first doses and 954,000 are second doses.
More than 143,000 Maori have received their first vaccine. Of these, more than 87,000 also underwent their second vaccination.
Over 96,000 doses have been administered to the peoples of the Pacific. Of these, approximately 60,000 also received their second dose.
All DHBs had plans in place to continue to roll out vaccination during Alert Level 4, and these are now activated. Some vaccinations at limited sites will resume this afternoon.
From 8 am tomorrow, the vaccination program will resume throughout New Zealand.
It will look different – the vaccination sites will operate under Alert Level 4 conditions and that means in some cases they won’t have as many people coming. This is to allow distancing.
If you are one of the reservations that we need to move to make sure we have a little more space, you will receive a notification. Otherwise, the message is simple. If you had booked for tomorrow and haven’t heard a thing, go for it.
Most of the time, we intend to continue our deployment as planned. This means continuing to open up age groups. From today, those over 40 can visit
to make their reservations.
New Zealand COVID Tracker
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,926,215 registered users.
Poster scans reached 325,352,493 and users created 13,012,921 manual journal entries.
There were 555,441 scans within 24 hours at noon yesterday.
© Scoop Media
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