This article by RNZ.co.nz is republished with permission under Kaniva News partnerships with Radio New Zealand.
There are no new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in New Zealand today, but one probable case has been confirmed.
Watch the briefing here at 1pm:
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said that means New Zealand’s total of confirmed and probable cases remains the same at 1487. The total number of confirmed cases is 1137.
There have been no additional deaths, Bloomfield said.
The last time there was 0 new cases was on 16 March.
Yesterday 2473 tests were done. The total number of completed tests is 152,696.
There are seven people in hospital, and none are intensive care.
There number of clusters in NZ remains at 16, three of them have now been closed as there have been no cases of community transmission in the past few days.
“Clearly these are encouraging figures today, but it is just one moment in time. The real test is later this week when we factor in the incubation period for the virus and the time it takes for people to display symptoms which is generally five to six days after exposure,” Bloomfield said.
“That’s when we will have an indication if there are any new cases coming through that might be emerging in the community as a result of our shift from level 4 to level 3.
“We cannot afford to squander all the hard work and effort of the past weeks. We did see at the weekend that it can be easy to start slackening off and we need to maintain discipline and keep pushing on and sustain the advantage that we have fought so hard for.”
Bloomfield said staff and students at Marist College in Auckland will be able to undergo free testing in a joint initiative between the Public Health Unit and DHB and the school.
While only half of the 94 cases at Marist came from within the school … it’s important for the rest of the school to be tested,” he said.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern cautioned against “acting like we’ve won already” against Covid-19. She told Morning Report level 3 was like a waiting room where after a cycle of transmission the government can use the data to assess whether there are unexplained cases that are cause for concern.