By 1news.co.nz and is republished with permission.
The Ministry of Health says there are now 17 people identified as having tested positive for Covid-19 who were at the Parliament anti-mandate protest in Wellington.
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It comes as the protest is in it’s 21st day, with police calling for people to leave the site due to, among other reasons, “extremely poor sanitary conditions and the confirmed presence of Covid-19”.
Wellingtonians are waiting in snaking long queues in order to secure rapid antigen testing kits.
On Sunday a spokesperson for Regional Public Health said three cases connected to the protest have been hospitalised. Of these, two were hospitalised in the Wellington region, and one outside of the Wellington region.
In its daily case update, the ministry said, “due to reluctance by protesters to get a Covid-19 test, the true number of cases linked to the protest is likely to be much higher”.
“Establishing accurate data on positive cases linked to the protest is a challenge, as we anticipate reluctance from some protesters being tested for Covid-19. As such, total figures are unlikely to be ever be known,” Regional Public Health said on Sunday.
“For privacy reasons we are unable to provide any further information on cases connected to the protest at Parliament.”
It comes amid what police said on Sunday is aggressive behaviour from anti-mandate protesters directed at them.
āAggressive behaviour from protesters, extremely poor sanitary conditions, the confirmed presence of Covid-19, and the number of unwell people amongst the group all make for an unsafe, and unpleasant environment for anyone thinking of joining the activity,ā a police spokesperson said in a statement.
On Monday,14,633 new Covid-19 community cases were recorded in the country. Capital and Coast recorded 604 cases and the Hutt Valley 281.
There are 344 people in hospital with the virus, including five in a high dependency or intensive care unit.
“As the number of Covid-19 cases increases, we are continuing to see a disproportionate number of unvaccinated cases requiring hospital care,” the ministry said.
