One year on from Aotearoa New Zealand’s longest covid-19 lockdown, an epidemiologist says further lockdowns cannot be ruled out, instead preparing to do them better.

On 17 August 2021, New Zealand went to alert level 4 because the deadly delta variant had arrived.

Aucklanders had no idea that day that they would still be in lockdown until December, and that after 18 months of trying to keep covid-19 out, it would be here to stay.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update in NZ: 16 further deaths, 4489 new community cases
• Other NZ covid reports

The city was asked to hold the line so the country could get vaccinated, something critics said should have happened much earlier.

Auckland University epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson was vocal in urging the country to aim high and vaccinate more than 95 percent of eligible people.

Reflecting back, he said New Zealanders responded well, with most areas hitting that mark or higher by the measurements at the time.

Much had been learnt about the virus — and how to respond to it — since then, with the highly contagious but less harmful omicron variant changing everything at the start of this year, he said.

But the danger was not over.

Random severity of variants
“I think there are a lot of people who think, ‘oh look, it’s getting less severe over time so we’re fine,’ but it’s pretty random whether the next variant is going to be less severe or not,” he said.

Either way, it would need to be at least as spreadable as omicron to take over, he said.

The government has said lockdowns are not part of any future covid-19 plans, with the traffic light system taking its place.

But Professor Jackson said that may not “cut the mustard” if the worst happened.

“If we get a new mutation that is more severe, that kills more people, then we’ve got something huge to worry about,” he said.

“If that happens, if people start dropping dead in the street like the original version of covid, we will have little choice but to lock down.”

That was why the country still needed to be prepared for the worst, he said.

Frontline of delta outbreak
As an Auckland GP and co-leader of Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā, Dr Rawiri McKree-Jansen was at the frontline of the delta outbreak and lockdown and the vaccine rollout.

Some Māori and Pacific health teams had initially struggled to be given the resources they needed, or to be listened to.

The work they were able to do for their communities and the country showed what they were capable of and should be a lasting legacy, Dr McKree-Jansen said.

They were crucial to the vaccine roll out and helped the most vulnerable, especially those isolating.

“The mobilisation was impressive, relentless and co-ordinated,” he said.

“Those features are remarkable and give us a great sense of optimism about the contribution that Māori communities and Māori health professionals can make and I hope that is enduring.”

When it came to new variants, he said while it was important to be vigilant about what may come next, it was also important to focus on what was happening now.

“Omicron’s not done with us yet … I’m keen that we don’t forget the lessons we’ve learnt from the Delta and Omicron outbreaks – and supporting communities is fundamental to that.”

Both Professor Jackson and Dr McKree-Jansen acknowledged the people who had died since pandemic began, many more since the omicron outbreak that reached so many people.

But they said they were also grateful that many were protected by the lockdown and the vaccine rollout.

16 more people die
RNZ News reports that another 16 people with covid-19 have died and there are 4489 new community cases today, according to the Ministry of Health.

There are 496 people in hospital, 13 of them are in a high dependency unit

Yesterday the ministry reported another 21 people with covid-19 had died and there were 533 people in hospital, including 12 in intensive care or a high dependency unit.

Deputy Director-General and Public Health Agency head Dr Andrew Old told media this afternoon that modelling from Covid Modelling Aotearoa showed New Zealand was continuing to track at the lower end of what was expected in terms of a second wave this winter.

“We passed a peak in cases earlier that the modelling suggested and now hospitalisations are also declining suggesting these too have peaked. It’s sitting somewhere between 800 and 850 occupied beds across the country in late July,” he said.

Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand interim national medical director Dr Pete Watson said the recent drop in covid-19 cases was an encouraging trend.

“By each one of us sticking to public health measures we are making a difference,” he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Vanuatu’s outgoing president, Obed Moses Tallis, has urged the government not to abolish the Ministry of Justice, warning against a “dictatorial system”.

His opening speech to Parliament’s first “ordinary” session of 2022 is his final duty of his mandate which will end in July.

“In my observation during my five-year term as a Head of State, the judiciary in Vanuatu under the leadership of Chief Justice has played an important role in stability, growth and progress of the nation for it uniqueness of it its independency,” he said.

• READ MORE: Other Vanuatu politics reports
• Fears over proposed break up of Vanuatu’s Justice Ministry

“To cherish the stages of the third pillar of the constitution, I urge the government to carefully consider its decision to abolish the Ministry of Justice.

“It is important that the government maintain the Ministry of Justice. Without the judiciary, there will no effective work from the government and there will be no prosecution.

“The work of the Vanuatu Police force will have no bases and there will be a dictatorial system in place,” he said.

In his speech, Tallis also praised the country’s frontline workers for their hard work during the community outbreak of covid-19.

Frontline workers risked lives
He said frontline workers risked their lives and their families by being exposed to the virus.

He also hailed their efforts in challenging disinformation about the omicron variant.

Tallis said the hard work of the frontline workers had contributed to stabilising the outbreak in the affected provinces.

Meanwhile, Vanuatu’s Ministry of Health reports 37 new cases of covid-19.

Tallis told Parliament Vanuatu had gone through several challenges because of the covid pandemic.

He acknowledged the tourism sector for its contribution to the recovery of Vanuatu’s economy.

“Tourism has contributed a lot to economic growth but the only problem is that it is a fragile industry and cannot sustain us during total border restrictions which restricted the mobility and the movement of the tourists.

Tourism a ‘fragile industry’
“We experienced a high rate of unemployment with the closure of hotels and caused financial difficulties of the family.

“The other reason why I am saying that tourism is a fragile industry is the ongoing climate change impact across the globe which could affect this industry.

“In my humble view, I want to see government to invest more in vibrant industry such as agriculture, fisheries and utilising the natural resources in land and marine,” Tallis said.

He acknowledged government initiatives to redirect its focus in the agriculture sector and the programme of coconut replanting and cattle restocking and the establishment of the connection of the cooperative to the local farmers in order to participate effectively in the country’s economic growth.

The Prime Minister, Bob Loughman, and the Leader of the opposition, Ralph Regenvanu, both thanked Tallis for his role as Head of State during his five-year mandate.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand reported 7970 new cases of covid-19 in the community and 28 further deaths today, a day after cases in the country topped one million.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 381 people were in hospital with covid-19, compared with 368 people in its previous update yesterday.

There are 10 people in ICU.

• READ MORE: Other NZ covid reports

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed today that the border would fully reopen from the end of July — three months earlier than planned, including for cruise ships and international students.

It was also announced that visitor visas from the Pacific Islands would open online from Monday, May 16.

The Health Ministry said the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths was 15.

Of the 28 deaths reported today, two people were from Northland, five from Auckland, three from Waikato, three from Bay of Plenty, two from Whanganui, three from the Wellington region, four from the Canterbury region and six from Southern.

One was in their 40s, one in their 50s, two in their 60s, eight in their 70s, 11 in their 80s, five in their 90s.

Eighteen were men and 10 were women.

Yesterday, New Zealand recorded more than one million cases of covid-19 since the pandemic began. New Zealand’s population is 5 million.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

In a recent article (Weekend Herald, April 16) John Roughan wrote that the covid-19 pandemic has been an anticlimax in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Surprisingly, he acknowledges covid-19 has killed about 25 million people worldwide, so hopefully he was referring to New Zealand’s 600 deaths. He goes on to ask how many lives we in New Zealand have saved and states that it’s “not the 80,000 based on modelling from the Imperial College London that panicked governments everywhere in March 2020”.

I beg to differ. It is because governments panicked everywhere that the number of deaths so far is “only” about 25 million.

• READ MORE: Other NZ covid outbreak reports

A recent comprehensive assessment of the covid-19 infection fatality proportion — the proportion of people infected with covid-19 who die from the infection — found that in April 2020, before most governments had “panicked”, the infection fatality proportion was 1.5 percent or more in numerous high-income countries. Included were Japan, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Without stringent public health measures, covid-19 is likely to have spread through the entire population, and an infection fatality proportion of 1.5 percent multiplied by 5 million (New Zealanders) equals 75,000.

That’s close to the estimated 80,000 New Zealand lives likely to have been saved because our “panicking” government, like many others, introduced restrictive public health measures.

Public health successes are invisible
What Roughan fails to appreciate is that public health successes are invisible. Unlike deaths, you cannot see people not dying.

Without the initial public health measures and then the rapid development and deployment of highly effective vaccines (unconscionably largely to high-income countries) there would have been far more deaths.

Roughan asks “is this a pandemic?” He states that 25 million covid deaths are only 0.3 percent of the world’s population (“only” 16,000 New Zealand deaths).

How many deaths make a pandemic? In 2020, covid-19 was the number one killer in the UK, responsible for causing about one in 10 deaths in every age group, with each person who died losing on average about 10 years of life expectancy.

In the US, more than 150,000 children have lost a primary or secondary caregiver to covid-19.

So, has our pandemic response been proportionate?

Stringent public health measures were highly effective pre-omicron, but are unsustainable long term.

New Zealand is incredibly fortunate
We are incredibly fortunate that highly effective vaccines were developed so rapidly.

Even the less severe omicron variant is a major killer of unvaccinated people, as demonstrated in Hong Kong, where the equivalent of 6000 New Zealanders have been killed by omicron in the past couple of months, due to low vaccination rates.

Unfortunately, despite our high vaccination rates, we are unlikely to be out of the woods, and it is likely a new covid-19 variant will be back to bite us. The only certainty is that the next variant will need to be even more contagious to overtake omicron.

As long as covid-19 passes to a new host before killing you, there is no selection advantage to a less fatal variant. We are just lucky that omicron was less virulent than delta.

Pandemics over the centuries have often taken several generations to change from being mass killers to causing the equivalent of a common cold.

What response will we accept as proportionate to shorten this process with covid-19 without millions of additional deaths?

As immunity from vaccination or infection wanes, we will need updated vaccines to prevent regular major disruptions to society.

A sustainable proportionate response
Unlike the flu, which has a natural R-value of less than two (one person on average infects fewer than two others), omicron appears to have an R-value of at least 10. That means in the time it takes flu to go from infecting one person to two, to four, to eight people, omicron (without a proportionate response) could go from infecting one to 10 to 100 to 1000 people.

There is no way that endemic covid will be as manageable as endemic flu.

The only sustainable proportionate response to covid-19 is for New Zealanders to embrace universal vaccination.

It is likely that vaccine passes will be required again if we want to live more normally and for society to thrive. It cannot be difficult to make the use of vaccine passes more seamless.

Almost every financial transaction today is electronic and it must be possible to link transactions to valid vaccine passes when required.

Almost 1 million eligible New Zealanders haven’t had their third vaccine dose, yet few are anti-vaccination.

Rather, thanks to vaccination and other public health measures, the pandemic has been an anticlimax for many New Zealanders and the third dose has not been a priority.

As already demonstrated, for the vast majority of New Zealanders, a vaccine pass is sufficient to make vaccination a priority.

Professor Rod Jackson is an epidemiologist with the University of Auckland. This article was originally published by The New Zealand Herald. Republished with the author’s permission.

For the first time since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Auckland does not have the most new daily community cases reported.

The Ministry of Health reported the region had 869 new cases yesterday, while Canterbury had the most new cases at 2255, Southern DHB coming in second with 1747, and Waikato has 1079.

The rest of the district health boards (DHBs) reported new case numbers below 1000.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the NZ covid outbreak

While the proportion of cases to population in Christchurch has been higher than Auckland for some time, yesterday was the first time it had more in raw numbers.

Auckland’s case numbers peaked in the omicron outbreak almost six weeks ago and this week, all three Auckland DHBs each reported fewer than 100 patients for the first time since late February.

But at a meeting last week, Auckland DHB bosses said they were still only just above minimum service delivery — meaning the only operations they were doing were acute, or planned surgery that could not wait.

Most of the major metropolitan areas in the North Island – Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and the Hutt Valley – peaked about a week later, according to Otago University epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker.

Rural Southland looked to be last in line for cases to peak, with Canterbury and South Canterbury already having had the highest rate of new infections of any district health board region — close to 500 per 100,000 people — back in late March.

Professor Baker previously said geography was one of the reasons for the persistent case load in the South Island, with the wave washing out of the large cities and into regional New Zealand.

“What we’re seeing in New Zealand is a city pattern and more of a rural pattern,” he said.

“So at one extreme we had Auckland which had peak case numbers on March 4 and it’s really the first DHB where we’re seeing numbers go below 100 cases per 100,000 people.

“And at the other extreme you’ve still got over 300 per 100,000 — so three times higher — in places like Southern, South Canterbury and also on the West Coast.”

But while cases had remained persistently high in the south, deaths and hospitalisations had remained low.

Baker said he expected the drawn-out wave had played a part in that along with high vaccination coverage.

“Having a very sharp peak in Auckland does mean there’s a lot more pressure on the system. Whereas if you have a more prolonged epidemic, as we’re seeing in the South Island in particular, it might be the capacity to manage people at home is better because you’re not seeing so many sick people at the same time.”

As immunity wanes in the community, more people socialising with reduced restrictions, and the possibility of new variants, cases are expected to once again increase during winter.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A Whanganui iwi leader says the Aotearoa New Zealand government’s decision to ease covid-19 measures at this time is a disgrace and shocking.

He is warning Māori to stay vigilant against omicron and prepare for more to come.

Tūpoho chair Ken Mair says Māori must continue to be extremely careful and take precautions against covid-19, despite the government’s new strategy to begin living with the virus.

• READ MORE: Covid-19: Māori now have highest rate of community cases in Aotearoa – Bloomfield
• Covid-19 update: 11 more deaths, 18,423 new community cases today
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said gathering limits would ease before the weekend, with no limit for outside venues and gatherings of up to 200 allowed inside.

Vaccine passes and scanning would no longer be needed from April 4, and mandates would be scrapped for all except those in the health and aged care sectors, Corrections and at the border.

But Mair said the country was far from out of the woods, as shown by the number of daily covid-19 cases being reported — with 11 new deaths and 18,423 infections.

“It just seems crazy that the government are putting in place this strategy right now, at the worst time in regard to the high numbers of omicron within our community. It’s extremely dangerous,” Mair said.

Radio NZ News reports that Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said Māori had the highest rate of community cases of covid-19, overtaking Pacific people at 28 per 1000. Rates for NZ European and Asian ethic groups is 21 per 1000.

‘Where’s the Māori lens?’
“Where’s the Māori lens over this? Certainly, within our community there are hundreds [of cases] and there are a number in hospital.

“I just can’t understand a strategy where there hasn’t been any real analysis with substance in regard to the impact upon iwi, hapū and Māori, noting that we’re an extremely vulnerable community in the context of respiratory and asthma ailments.”

Mair said he understood some Māori leaders had been in discussion with the government and had made recommendations for the new strategy, but it appeared they had been ignored.

“I’ve been deeply concerned over the last couple of months where there doesn’t appear to be a strong Māori voice coming through or anything that might indicate that the government have a clear understanding of the ramifications of their decision around the covid strategy.

“This is a classic example — decisions being made right in the midst of cases going up, new variants around the corner, without understanding the impact and implications for Māori. I just think that’s a disgrace and shocking.”

Mair said he thought the strategy had been politicised, with Labour’s polling and political pressure the key factors.

“What motivates you to put in place an extremely dangerous strategy? You can only assume the motivation’s around political expediency and the impact upon economic wellbeing, without having the health lens driving your decision making.

Risk for vulnerable ignored
“The decisions by the prime minister and the government clearly have not taken into account the real vulnerability of Māori, and I think Māori, iwi and hapū have to be extremely careful in this precarious time.”

Yesterday, the prime minister said restrictions were being eased because it was safe to do so. Mair said this ignored the risk that remained for the vulnerable and sent the wrong message.

“I think because of the government’s strategy, people are saying things like: well, we’re going to get it anyway, it doesn’t matter, let’s get on with it and get back to normality as quickly as possible.

“The problem with those comments, of course, is the vulnerability of our Māori community, hapū and iwi is extremely high.

“I think our community in general is beginning to take a kind of defeatist approach and we should be, I think, extremely careful and vigilant in regard to dealing with this omicron.

“I have no doubt in my mind there’ll be more variants around the corner and we should always be prepared.”

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Asia Pacific Report is a community partner.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed cabinet’s decisions about when and how covid-19 restrictions will be eased.

She said the traffic light system would remain to help manage any future outbreaks.

However, Ardern said things had changed since the system was introduced:

• New Zealand is now dealing with the omicron variant, rather than delta;
• there is more more data available now and the government is better able to identify which environments are high risk; and
• there are high rates of vaccination coverage.

The changes came as the Ministry of Health reported today that the national death toll had risen above 200 — to a record 210 — with 11 further deaths, and 20,087 new community cases of covid-19.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: Total death toll rises above 200, with 20,087 new community cases reported today
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

With that in mind, Ardern said she was announcing that all outdoor gathering limits would be removed from the traffic light system.

She said indoor gathering limits would increase from 100 to 200 under the red light setting.

Ardern said data showed hospitality had a relatively low secondary attack rate of 6.7 percent, which was backed up by other research.

She said it was the view of public health officials that hospitality gathering limits could be increased in the red setting from 100 to 200 without having a significant impact on the health system, particularly when retaining the seated and separated rules.

She also announced that vaccine passes would no longer be required from 11.59pm on April 4.

Watch the announcement

Video: RNZ New

Businesses and events would still be able to use them, if they chose to do so, but they would no longer be mandated, she said.

Ardern said masks were vital, and while people did not like them — for good reason — a study from the British Medical Journal late last year showed mask wearing reduced new cases by 53 percent.

In the orange setting, outdoor events will also be limitless. Close contact is higher risk for indoor events, however, so organisers of events over 500 people are encouraged to either add extra capacity or provide seating.

Green will not have restrictions but there will be guidance, and will not change.

“These changes are based on the best available evidence we have right now in real time. We believe they will make the Covid Protection Framework easier to maintain while also still being very effective,” Ardern said.

She said the changes could be made almost immediately and would come into effect at 11.59pm on March 25.

The next review of the traffic light settings and which setting the country sits in will happen on April 4.

Mandates needed for delta
On mandates and vaccine passes, Ardern said she was initially not in favour of their use but after months of delta it became clear that mandates were needed to achieve vaccination levels required for safe reopening, and passes had a role to play too.

She said these were undoubtedly one of the reasons the country reached 95 percent of the eligible population vaccinated, and achieved the near elimination of delta over summer, but omicron had changed things.

Almost all of New Zealand’s more than 500,000 cases of covid-19 had been in the omicron wave, she said. Many cases do not show symptoms and testing did not catch every case, so modellers expected total cases now could be as high as 1.7 million.

For the unvaccinated, the illness could be severe, she said.

Ardern said these people would have built some immunity from the illness itself, and as New Zealand had come down off the peak the need for passes changed.

The isolation period for household contacts remained at seven days, Ardern said.

On QR codes, she said there was no plan for New Zealand to contact trace more widely with the exception of high-risk environments like aged care facilities or residential facilities for the vulnerable.

QR codes use relaxed
From this weekend people would no longer be required to scan everywhere they went, and businesses were no longer required to provide the means to do so.

Ardern said businesses should stand ready to stand up QR codes again and people should not yet delete the app from their phone, in case of a new variant that evaded vaccines or was more deadly, in which case contact tracing would provide again a more critical role.

“Scanning has been a really important part of what we’ve achieved, so thank you for everyone for playing your part,” she said.

Finally, cabinet has also reviewed the role of vaccine mandates. As rates increased, they sought advice from Professor Sir David Skegg, who said the case for or against was now more finely balanced.

Skegg said: “Because of our relatively high vaccination coverage and increasing natural immunity as well as the apparent lowering of vaccine effectiveness of the omicron variant, while vaccination remains critically important in protecting New Zealanders from covid-19 we believe that several of the vaccine mandates could be dropped once the omicron peak has passed.”

The government will no longer require mandates for education, police and defence workforces and businesses operating vaccine passes from 11.59pm on April 4. They will continue to be used in health, aged care, corrections staff and border and MIQ workers.

Ardern said the government had also asked whether the mandates in the health sector could be narrowed, and expected to provide more updates on advice to the private sector on their use more broadly.

However, she asked people to still get vaccinated and boosted, saying it would continue to be central to the stability and strength of New Zealand’s recovery.

Looking back
Ardern said that after two long years of living in a pandemic it was easy to lose sight of how far New Zealand had come.

“This exact day two years ago, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield announced from over at the Ministry of Health that we had 36 new cases of covid-19. Half at that time were from overseas travel, with the exception of the Queenstown World Hereford Cattle conference … we could contact trace 50 new cases a day back then. We hadn’t locked down yet, but the early signs were there.”

She said two new community cases were announced on 23 March 2020, one in Wairarapa with no link to the border.

Within days New Zealand was in a nationwide lockdown, a decision Ardern said was not a hard one.

“We had no other defence, no other way to protect each other. There was no vaccine, no antiviral medicines, there was very little data to tell us which public health restrictions worked and which did not, so we built our own defences and we hunkered down.”

The transition had not been easy but it had worked, she said. New Zealand successfully eliminated the first wave and recorded the lowest number of deaths in the OECD for two years in a row.

She said the response was also the best economic response, but while New Zealand had been successful “it was also bloody hard … everyone has had to give up something to make this work and some more than others”.

She said she imagined every family would have had a difficult conversation about vaccines, mandates or passes but among the different opinions there was also fatigue.

Ardern said New Zealand was now able to keep moving forward safely, but it had to be kept in mind that covid was here to stay.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand’s Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, says covid-19 case numbers have passed their peak in Auckland, the country’s largest city, but that people should remain vigilant.

Dr Bloomfield said there were 20,907 new community cases of covid-19, a further 15 deaths and 1016 people in hospital in today.

He said the latest analysis showed covid-19 case numbers had passed their peak in Auckland, and were tracking down in all three district health boards.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 20,907 new community cases, 15 deaths and 1016 people in hospital

Dr Bloomfield said that analysis also showed case numbers nationally — not including Auckland — were also slowing. They increased just 1 percent in the seven days to March 20, compared to a 44 percent increase in the week ending March 13.

The pattern did differ by DHB, with cases still increasing in the South Island, although there were encouraging signs they were peaking in the Midland region and in the Wellington region.

He said case numbers appeared to be largely now following the modelling for a high-transmission scenario. Case numbers were higher than the modelling suggested, and Dr Bloomfield said this may be because most cases in New Zealand were the BA.2 subvariant.

Hospitalisations in the northern region were also levelling off.

“We’re watching carefully and the expectation is that they will start to drop as the week progresses,” Dr Bloomfield said.

“The average length of stay for people on wards in the Auckland hospitals who have been discharged is now 3.2 days compared to just over two days last month, and the average stay in intensive care is five days.

“This increase in average length of stay reflects that we’re now seeing that people who are needing longer care, they may even be over their covid infection but they have symptoms that need to be managed, often from underlying conditions.”

Watch the update 

Dr Bloomfield said that even though cases in hospital in Auckland were staying high, the number of new admissions each day was dropping quickly. But because those being admitted now were sicker and required longer care in hospital, the total number of people in hospital remained fairly steady.

Emergency department admissions testing positive remain highest at Middlemore, but they had fallen from 40 percent last month to 28 percent now. Auckland Hospital was down from 30 percent to 22 percent, while Waitematā was steady about 18 percent.

Whangārei’s ED positivity rate was still increasing, he said.

“Admissions in the rest of the country are growing and we will continue to see them grow.”

Dr Bloomfield said hospitalisation rates during the delta outbreak was about 8 percent, whereas the omicron outbreak had been about 0.9 percent.

“That hospitalisation rate will appear to increase over coming weeks, because as the cases drop yet people remain in hospital we’ll see the denominator decline much quicker … hospitalisations will decline but more slowly,” he said.

“The number of deaths each day is also likely to increase and will take longer to decline.”

He said staffing shortages were a major pressure on the health system, and there was real pressure in hospitals as well as care in the community, including rest homes.

‘Covid isn’t done with the world just yet’
Dr Bloomfield said New Zealand could expect ongoing waves of covid, and looking across the Tasman was instructive.

“The number of people hospitalised with covid in New South Wales never dropped below 950 after their first omicron wave … it’s now back over 1000 as cases started to increase again.

“In contrast, in Victoria the number of hospitalisations declined down to around 200 and remained steady there … so two quite different pictures.”

He said this showed New Zealand should expect to see a residual number of cases and people in hospital.

The UK had seen increased case numbers with the BA.2 subvariant, with Scotland hit hardest.

“Case numbers there are just below their previous peak, and hospitalisation figures the highest they have been since 2020. Globally it’s likely there will continue to be further waves of omicron and likewise there will be new variants of concern.”

He said New Zealand would face these just as other countries would.

“Covid isn’t done with the world just yet.”

Looking ahead
Tomorrow the government is due to announce if it will relax mandates, vaccine passes and the traffic light system as the omicron outbreak passes its peak in Auckland. Cabinet discussed reducing the restrictions yesterday.

Ahead of the announcement, Dr Bloomfield said New Zealand was still in the middle of a global pandemic which had thrown curveballs before and would continue to.

“We need to be prepared to redeploy the measures that we already have in place or have used in the past.”

He said there was a balance between protecting the population — particularly vulnerable groups — and only using restrictions for the extent they were needed.

At the moment, total ICU and HDU beds were about 60 percent occupied, he said. Each day hospitals were looking at the number of beds available and staffing those accordingly.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The clamour in New Zealand to ditch vaccine passes and change the traffic light setting is poorly timed, an epidemiologist says.

The number of covid-19 deaths is on the rise, with nine reported today.

One thousand people are now in hospital, including 26 in ICU, the highest number yet in intensive care.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘I think this is politicking’ – Epidemiologist Dr Rod Jackson
• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: Nine deaths, 1000 in hospital and 14,463 community cases
• Samoa covid testing reveals climb to 196 cases
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

University of Auckland epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson said the worst may be yet to come.

It is “too soon to relax”, although the country is nearing its peak, Professor Jackson said.

He said the push for change is “politicking” and not many businesses want to remove vaccine passes at present.

He told RNZ Morning Report that looking around the world other countries did not go straight up and down with their peaks and New Zealand would be at risk of “yo-yoing around” if vaccine passes and other public health interventions were removed too soon.

Vaccine passes should be retained until it was clear that the omicron outbreak was just about over, he said.

‘We’re at the top’
“We’re at the top at the moment. It makes absolutely no sense to remove any effective public health measures when we’re still at the top.

“It’s crazy. I think it’s political nonsense to be pushing to take them away now.”

Professor Jackson said more than 1 million New Zealanders still needed to get their booster. As well, the unvaccinated were twice as likely to catch covid-19, three times as likely to transmit it than fully boosted people and five times more likely to be in hospital.

“We’re not over it yet … those relatively small numbers of people, when you do all of those multiplications, they are sufficient to overwhelm our health system.”

He referred to what was happening in the UK and parts of Australia where there were rising case numbers.

“I know there’s huge pressure to take away the vaccine passes but I think it’s a mistake.”

Professor Jackson said it was business which forced the government to introduce vaccine mandates and he did not believe they were hugely in favour of taking them away now.

“I think this is politicking.”

Makes no sense
It did not make sense to change the traffic light setting in the next few days either.

“We’ve got more people in hospital today than we’ve ever had. We’ve got more deaths than we’ve ever had.

“It just doesn’t make any sense to be relaxing public health measures that have proven to be incredibly effective at the peak of an outbreak.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report that the traffic light system must be “no more restrictive” than needed and mandates would not be as necessary after the first omicron wave.

Cabinet was meeting today to review vaccine mandates, vaccine passports and the traffic light system, though any decisions will not be announced until Wednesday.

Watch the PM talking to Morning Report

The changes will mark the biggest domestic shake up to covid-19 restrictions since omicron arrived on Aotearoa’s shores.

“We know that in the future we’re likely to have have additional waves of omicron… We’re already seeing that in other countries,” Ardern said.

“So let’s make sure we get the covid protection framework, that traffic light system, right for the future.

“We want it to be no more restrictive than it needs to be, so if there are areas we can pare it back, we will.”

She said that with a highly vaccinated population the government believed mandates and vaccine passes would no longer be as necessary once the omicron outbreak had peaked.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

An Auckland nurse says a lucrative incentive payment has not fixed the city’s dire hospital staffing shortage in Aotearoa New Zealand’s current covid-19 outbreak.

Nurses, midwives and others employed by the region’s district health boards (DHBs) have been entitled to an extra $500 on top of their normal pay for extra shifts overnight.

The scheme is being reviewed today and the clinical director in charge of co-ordinating the city’s health response, Dr Andrew Old, said it would continue if it was needed to address staffing shortages.

• LISTEN TO RNZ: ‘We’re in the eye of the storm now’ – Dr Andrew Old
• ‘We are tired, we are exhausted, we are short-staffed’ – Di McCulloch
• ‘The level of care you might expect [in hospital] is not as good’ – Sarah Dalton
• ‘It’s almost chaotic in terms of the response at this time’ – Tevita Funaki
• READ MORE: Ten deaths, 930 people in hospital, 19,566 new community cases

Dr Old said going into the pandemic Auckland’s hospitals had about 15 percent staff vacancies across the board which meant starting from a challenging position.

“So you then layer on top of that the challenge of Covid and it really has stretched the city.”

A nurses’ union delegate at Waitematā DHB, Di McCulloch, said while the $500 incentive scheme was popular, it had not been good for nursing overall because it led to exhausted workers and did not fix the staffing problems.

She said the nursing situation was dire.

Influx of unwell patients
“We continue to have an influx of unwell patients that normally enter the hospital and this has been compounded by omicron.”

She said once the subsidy ends the nursing shortages will continue and the DHBs will continue to redeploy non-clinical staff to fill the staffing gaps in wards.

Dr Old acknowledged how tired hospital staff in Auckland are.

“You know this has been going on for two years and the intensity has really stepped up in the last couple of weeks and I think certainly the city and the country are incredibly well served by the professionalism of the health workforce.”

Dr Old said the $500 payment was being reviewed today and there was the potential for it to be extended.

It aimed to ensure staff were available, particularly for hard to fill shifts such as overnights, he said.

“Look, we recognise people are tired, we’re asking them to go above and beyond and it’s just a recognition of the fact that actually everyone is really stretched.”

Hospitals just managing
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton described the current situation as a crisis and said hospitals were only just managing.

“People are going above and beyond, they’re doing everything they can to keep it safe for patients, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a crisis, it doesn’t mean that the entrenched short staffing that we were trying to deal with before covid hasn’t made this almost impossible to deal with.”

It was not just Auckland and a lot of surgery and outpatient appointments were being cancelled around the country, she said.

McCulloch said the border closure had made the nursing shortages worse because in the past there had been a reliance on internationally qualified nurses (IQN).

“So it’s become an ongoing issue, this has been going on for years within nursing and the nursing voice are saying that we are tired, we are exhausted, we are short-staffed daily on the ground.”

But McCulloch said that had “not been heard by the powers that be”.

In terms of dealing with New Zealand’s ongoing nursing shortage, McCulloch said New Zealand needed to keep its new nursing graduates working here.

She said that could mean bonding newly qualified nurses to working in New Zealand for a minimum of two years.

Auckland hospitals put care on hold
Auckland hospitals have put all but the most urgent care on hold to allow them to focus on covid-19 patients.

At the same time they are managing with 25 percent fewer staff as covid-19 cases continue to rise.

There were 19,566 cases and 930 people in hospital with the virus yesterday, more than two thirds of them in Auckland. Ten new covid-related deaths were also reported, taking the total to 151.

Dr Old said the region was grappling with peak hospitalisations and staff shortages due to the omicron outbreak.

“We’re in the eye of the storm now, so with cases thankfully coming down a bit but peak hospitalisations coinciding with near peak staff needing to be off to support their own family or off with covid themselves.”

But Dr Old said the number of staff vacancies due to covid-19 was starting to come down as coronavirus numbers start to drop and he was hopeful that things would improve this week.

He said there had been some limited cases of covid-19 positive staff working at Auckland hospital’s as the region dealt with the peak.

Serious challenges
“Those have been people where without them coming back we would have had serious challenges keeping those services going and so yes, coming back into environments where they’re only dealing with covid positive patients.”

Dalton said it was appalling to be in a position where in limited circumstances employers are encouraging staff unwell with covid-19 to go back to work.

“What they’re saying is they’re only doing that in covid settings and where otherwise there would be risk to life and limb effectively, so it’s a life preserving service.

“But to think that we’re in such a fragile state in terms of staffing that that has to be part of cover at the moment is really distressing.”

Dr Old stressed that urgent care was still available at the region’s hospitals.

“But anything that can be deferred essentially over the last couple of weeks really has been, so that’s pretty much all out-patient activity … and almost all planned surgery as well.”

Challenging to get support to South Auckland families
Auckland Pacific health and social service provider The Fono said it was run off its feet keeping up with the demands of a community struck by covid-19.

Chief executive Tevita Funaki said the service was looking after more than 900 active cases at one time.

“It’s not just the health challenges but also the whole welfare support and food and also other needs of the families.”

The service also had a number of staff getting sick or isolating due to covid-19.

The Fono had been using the network of churches in the Pacific community to distribute what was needed for families, Tevita said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has reported 19,542 new cases of covid-19 in the community and 24 more deaths today.

The ministry said eight people had died with covid-19 yesterday, while a further 16 people had died in the past three weeks.

“Local public health authorities have notified these deaths to the ministry in the past 24 hours as part of changes to the reporting of deaths announced last week. Delays to reporting can be associated with people dying with, rather than of covid-19, and covid being discovered after they have died,” the statement said.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins tests positive for coronavirus
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

The minister in charge of New Zealand’s covid-19 response has also now himself tested positive for the coronavirus.

Tweeting an image of a rapid antigen test, Chris Hipkins said: “The faint line seems out of keeping with how I currently feel!

“Day 7 of isolation and now it’s my turn. So I’ll be clocking off for another 7 days. Take care out there everyone.”

The faint line seems out of keeping with how I currently feel! Day 7 of isolation and now it’s my turn. So I’ll be clocking off for another 7 days. Take care out there everyone. pic.twitter.com/9wt8u7oe3o

— Chris Hipkins (@chrishipkins) March 15, 2022

Hipkins would normally have fronted today’s covid-19 update, but the media conference has been cancelled for today.

MPs testing positive
Hipkins is the latest of several MPs to have tested positive, including Environment Minister David Parker, Police Minister Poto Williams, opposition National Party leader Christopher Luxon and National MP Simon Bridges.

In the ministry’s report today, a person in their 40s was one of the people with Covid-19 whose death was reported today, while another person was in their 50s. The others include four in their 60s, three in their 70s, eight in their 80s and six in their 90s.

Eleven were women and twelve were men. The ministry said the average age was 79 and this had been increasing over the last week.

Eight of the 24 deaths reported today were people who died at aged residential care facilities.

The total number of deaths of people with covid-19 is now 141.

The rolling seven-day average of deaths over the past seven days is seven, up from four yesterday.

The ministry said the trend of increasing numbers of deaths was sadly not unexpected.

Higher numbers
“As has occurred with omicron overseas, while covid-19 cases are usually seen in higher numbers among younger people early in the outbreak, over time the more severe and fatal consequences of the virus fall disproportionately on our older and more vulnerable populations.”

There are 971 people in hospital, 21 of whom are in ICU. The average age of the people with covid-19 in hospital is 57.

There were also 17 new cases identified at the border.

Yesterday there were 21,616 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the community and two more deaths. There were 960 people in hospital.

Asia Pacific Report adds: Covid-19 modeller Professor Michael Plank was quoted in news reports as indicating the ethnicity of cases could increase the number of severe cases.

Māori make up about 17 percent of the 5 million population, but 20 percent of all cases, and 25 percent of those hospitalised, reports the New Zealand Herald.

Pasifika make up 8 percent of the population, but 21 percent of all cases and 38 percent of those hospitalised.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says it is clear that the number of cases in Auckland is on the way down, but in Wellington case rates are increasing rapidly.

Dr Bloomfield and Chief Science Advisor Dr Ian Town held a media briefing on the Omicron response today.

Dr Bloomfield said there were 21,616 new cases of covid-19 in the community and 960 people were in hospital, including 22 cases in ICU or high-dependency units with two more deaths.

• READ MORE:  Covid-19 update: Two more deaths, 21,616 new community cases and 960 people in hospital
• Declining NZ covid-19 case counts – but record deaths and more to come
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

In the Northern region there were 559 people in hospital, with 40 percent — some 233 — aged 70 or over, he said.

Dr Bloomfield said the country saw higher case numbers compared to modelling from before the outbreak, but it was clear that the number of cases in Auckland is on the way down.

There were 6085 new cases in Auckland today, up from 4730 yesterday and 4509 on Sunday.

Dr Bloomfield says while admissions were on the way down, the total number of people in hospital with covid-19 was continuing to increase. Peak hospitalisations typically lagged behind peak case numbers by about a week.

Shift to subvariant BA.2
He said New Zealand had seen an interesting shift to the omicron BA.2 subvariant rather than the BA.1 variant. This could help explain why there were more transmissions than expected in the high-transmission scenario modelling.

However, this may be in New Zealand’s favour because other jurisdictions overseas — for example, NSW and the UK, particularly Scotland — were seeing second outbreaks with the BA.2 variant, having already had BA.1 variant outbreaks.

He said Scotland was seeing its highest case rate in nearly two years and had about 1800 people in hospital with the variant, compared to the under 1000 in New Zealand. Scotland has a population of 5.4 million, comparable to New Zealand’s 5 million.

Watch the update:

Video: RNZ News

Dr Bloomfield said it was important to make sure people were “vaxxed to the max”. He said this was a change in language — where the previously talked about term “fully vaccinated” was two doses, it was a shift to talking about being up to date with vaccinations.

He said it was clear that protection against getting omicron and/or being hospitalised wanes over time with just two doses.

A report from the Northern Region from March 8 showed just 16 percent of people admitted to hospital had their booster more than two weeks prior.

“So fully 84 percent of those people were not fully boosted … so even though only a small proportion of our population now has not had two vaccinations it is really really clear that a booster protects people from being hospitalised and we know it also helps protect people from dying from omicron.”

He said that in the same two weeks prior to March 8, just one person admitted to ICU was fully boosted.

Wellington outbreak
Dr Bloomfield noted there was now a “pretty full on outbreak” in Wellington, with case rates increasing rapidly.

But he thought the outbreak in Wellington, including the Hutt Valley and Kāpiti Coast, had yet to peak.

There were 1584 cases in the Capital and Coast DHB catchment and 33 hospitalisations.

“I think the rate of increase is similar to what we may have seen in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and others beforehand.’

Dr Bloomfield said the region with the highest case rate — per capita — right now was Tairāwhiti.

He said the DHBs (district health boards) had good plans in place, but when they had particularly high case numbers in hospital they did need to scale back some of their normal services.

He said some people were returning several negative RATs, but RATS were just “one tool” and not as accurate as PCR tests. He said people who had symptoms should assume they have covid-19.

Long covid
Dr Ian Town talked about long covid. He said most people who developed covid recovered completely, but the term “long covid” was generally applied to people who continued to suffer effects for at least 12 weeks.

It can include low energy, fatigue, shortness of breath and cough, headaches, low mood, difficulty concentrating, cognitive impairment, ongoing chest pains, a racing pulse, joint pains, aches and pains, weakness in muscle, ongoing changes to sense of taste or smell, and poor quality of sleep.

Dr Town said there was no suggestion the symptoms of long covid were psychological symptoms, and the key thing was to pace yourself and accept that more rest may be needed.

There was no specific treatment, but it was thought to be part of a post-viral immune response and the approach to long covid was “very much a framework of rehabilitation and pacing yourself and not overdoing it”.

“There isn’t a magic bullet in terms of the recovery.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The covid-19 vaccine booster needs a rebrand in New Zealand because it sounds like it is an “optional extra”, says a Pacific public health expert, as worry rises about stalling rates.

Only 73 percent of people have had the vaccine booster, despite nearly 90 percent of eligible people being double vaccinated three months ago — the stand-down period required to get boosted – and the omicron outbreak is sweeping through the country.

University of Auckland public health Associate Professor Collin Tukuitonga and Associate Dean Pacific said the word “booster” could make the dose sound like an optional extra.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: Two more deaths, 15,540 new cases and 952 in hospital
• Declining NZ covid-19 case counts – but record deaths and more to come
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

“My own view is that we should never have described the two doses as being fully vaxxed,” he said.

“Fully vaxxed in my mind for omicron is the three doses and … we should be clearer that the booster is essential in ensuring protection from omicron.”

The Ministry of Health yesterday reported 15,540 new community cases of covid-19 in New Zealand.

Two covid-related deaths were also reported taking the toll to 115 and there are 952 people in hospital, including 19 in intensive care.

The average age of people in hospital is currently 58.

Immunisation Advisory Centre medical director Dr Nikki Turner said the booster was far more effective at preventing serious illness from omicron than two doses.

All three doses should be considered as one full course of the vaccine, she said.

Unboosted people polled in the street by RNZ yesterday had a range of reasons for not getting a third shot.

Some said they got two doses because they had to for work but did not want the booster, another was that they were double vaccinated and had had the virus, and others said they intended to but had not got round to it yet.

Turner said there were many other reasons why there could be a lag, including some people only just being eligible after the three-month stand-down from the second vax, or others who had recently had the virus and were following advice to wait a further three months.

For some, like those living in poverty or in unstable housing, getting a vaccine could feel difficult, she said.

But there was also almost certainly some vaccine fatigue.

“We’re certainly all getting covid fatigue so I think everyone is feeling over it to some degree,” Turner said.

“I think the problem is that even when we’re over this peak, we will still have a high background rate of covid for quite a long time.”

Associate Professor Tukuitonga said he was really disappointed in the rate, particularly for Pacific and Māori populations which were even lower with about 60 percent of those eligible boosted.

Grass roots organisations had been critical to getting their own communities double vaccinated to a high degree — and health authorities must give them the resources to do the same again for boosters, Dr Tukuitonga said.

Dr Turner said GPs and other health agencies needed to seek out and encourage individuals to get boosted, particularly older or more vulnerable people.

It was difficult at the moment because they were so stretched helping people who had the virus, but it was crucial to help keep those at risk safe, she said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was pleased the booster rate was higher for older New Zealanders — it is 90 percent for over-70s.

She appeared reluctant to mandate the booster, saying vaccine passes would soon have less of a benefit because so many unvaccinated New Zealanders were getting the virus.

But the government was working with the Ministry of Health to look at how to improve the uptake, she said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

It is too early to say New Zealand has peaked, and declining tallies are no reason to celebrate as covid-19 is still rife in our communities with a record eight deaths reported in a day, an epidemiologist says.

University of Auckland professor Rod Jackson said the coronavirus is occurring so frequently right now that anyone with covid-like symptoms can assume they have virus, unless they get a negative PCR test.

The reported cases are thought to be a fraction of the actual cases out there in the community, he said.

• LISTEN TO RNZ: ‘The cases can go up and down from day to day’ — University of Auckland professor Rod Jackson
• Omicron peak could be over for Auckland duration — Otago University Professor Michael Baker
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

In the past three days, 22 people with covid-19 have died – nearly a 5th of the country’s total death toll of 113 since the virus arrived in New Zealand more than two years ago.

And while the number of people dying with the virus is a small percentage of those who test positive, the huge volume of people catching the virus at the moment means experts have warned there will be increasing deaths over the coming weeks.

So, early celebrations about a dip in case numbers are both premature, and rely on an incomplete picture of what is actually happening.

Yesterday was the fifth day in a row the Ministry of Health said recorded case numbers had declined, with 14,494 new covid-19 cases reported on Saturday, and the total number of infections dropping by 9000 to 197,251 people currently infected.

Dip marked for Auckland
The dip was especially marked for Auckland, which on March 8 reported 10,000 cases, but was down to 4509 yesterday.

Professor Jackson said from the data available, he could not tell if New Zealand and Auckland’s case numbers had peaked, or not.

“The cases can go up and down from day to day. The most important thing for all the people to realise is that we’re only reporting a quarter or a third of all the cases. So, if you’ve got 20,000 cases reported — there could be 40,000 to 60,000.

“I think it’s too early to call. I’d love to believe it’s on the decline in Auckland, it’s clearly still going up elsewhere, but I just don’t think we have any clear idea — we’re shooting in the dark because people are either not getting tested, or if they’re getting tested many of them are not reported, and the rate at which we report could change over time.

“So it is possible that in Auckland we’re still going up.”

Professor Jackson points out covid-19 tends to run in ongoing waves, and since the start of the pandemic there had been ongoing waves throughout countries that had battled it around the world.

“We’re seeing it not just in NSW, we’re seeing it in most of Europe as well, we’re just beginning to see the numbers climb again.”

‘Too many restrictions lifted’
“I think governments have taken too many restrictions off too early. I think we’re going to see more waves of omicron — hopefully not as bad, but I’d strongly recommend that we keep some of the basic restrictions in place, the ones that are not too disruptive.

“Certainly masks in public places, certainly people should make an effort to keep their distance.”

It is vital that everyone who qualifies for a booster vaccine goes and gets one, he said.

“It’s by far the most important thing anyone can do – make sure they’re vaxxed to the max. Make sure you’re ready for it, you’re fully immunised.”

University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker, told RNZ First Up today that protecting the older and more vulnerable parts of the community from exposure to the virus was important, to try to prevent deaths.

About a million people have been slow getting their booster, he said, but the difference in immunity for those who had it could be lifesaving.

“We know that hospitalisations lag about seven to 10 days after the rise of cases, but unfortunately deaths lag even longer, three to four weeks, so we haven’t seen the peak of deaths yet.

10 to 20 deaths a day
“This may rise into that range of 10 to 20 deaths a day for several days, based on international experience.”

Professor Baker does believe there is rising evidence to say New Zealand’s case numbers may have peaked, with Auckland peaking about nine days ago, and the rest of the country about five days ago.

But he said it will take four to six weeks to flatten the high case numbers down.

“Remarkably, yesterday was the first day in six weeks where we saw a drop in cases in every DHB across New Zealand. Obviously you need a few more days to be sure that’s a pattern, but that’s looking positive.”

He said the figures could still sit around 5000 new cases a day for months.

Yesterday, Canterbury University epidemic modeller Professor Michael Plank told RNZ there were strong signs that Auckland’s case numbers have peaked.

Areas close to Auckland like Hamilton and Tauranga would not be too close behind, but the rest of the country was likely about a week and a half behind, he said.

Settling of numbers needed
Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles said there needed to be a settling of the numbers before it could be declared that Auckland had peaked. But she was worried about what is happening in Europe.

“They had a wave and it dropped quite quickly and now it’s rising again.

“We’re obviously going into winter and that really concerns me because as well as having covid, we’re also soon opening our borders, so we’re going to have more things like influenza coming in, so it could be a very difficult winter ahead and I think people really need to be preparing themselves for that,” she said.

“The other thing we have to remember is a lot of people who have been infected in this wave in New Zealand have been younger people, so if it moves from younger people into older age groups then we’re much more likely to see an increase in deaths.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The number of people with covid-19 who have died in New Zealand has now reached 105, with 14 deaths reported in the past two days.

There are more than 206,000 active cases of covid-19 in the community, with another 18,699 new community cases reported today.

The Ministry of Health announced seven further deaths of people with covid-19 today which, after another seven deaths yesterday, has taken the total death toll to 105.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: Seven further deaths, 18,699 new community cases
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

But University of Otago professor of international health Dr Philip Hill said international statistics for deaths showed that New Zealand’s number could easily have been in the thousands had the country not had high vaccination rates and effective pandemic restrictions.

“I think what we are seeing is just how wonderful a vaccine we’ve got, that we’re having a massive covid-19 outbreak and not experiencing huge numbers of deaths.”

Hill stressed it should be remembered that covid-19 was continuing to kill New Zealanders, and just like earlier variants omicron was a life-threatening disease.

But he said that with covid-19 so widespread some of the deaths in the death tally so far include people whose death occurred because of other causes, while they also had the virus.

“The classification of these deaths has not been complete for many of them, which basically means that there are significant numbers of people who are dying of something else and that coincidentally have covid-19. That can be quite tricky to tease out.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there were 853 people in hospital with covid-19, including 17 in ICU.

However, Auckland health authorities remain cautiously optimistic that the omicron outbreak may have peaked in the country’s biggest city, and community case numbers in the region continue to slowly fall, with 6077 cases reported today — down from 7240 yesterday and less than half the number reported last week.

‘These are clearly seriously premature deaths’
Epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson of Auckland University urged older people to take the risk of covid-19 seriously as the number of deaths from the virus continued to rise.

Six of the 14 deaths in the past two days were people in their seventies.

Jackson said it was inevitable that the older population would feel the effects of the virus as it passed from kids to their parents and onwards.

But he said it was not just the oldest people in the community who were at high risk.

“These are clearly seriously premature deaths, this is not just old sick people who are going to die in the next few days, these are people who are losing years of a potential healthy life,” he said.

Stark wake-up call
Dr Jackson said the death toll in Hong Kong was a stark wake-up call for those writing it off as a mild illness.

“You just have to look at Hong Kong today; it’s a population of 7.5 million, so it’s only New Zealand plus a half, and they’re having well over 200 deaths a day. Their health services are overwhelmed. They’re in big trouble at the moment.”

Dr Jackson urged people to keep acting with caution to prevent the spread, and to seek medical advice if they were concerned about their health.

On Thursday the Ministry of Health changed how covid-19-related deaths are reported.

The death of anyone who dies within 28 days of testing positive for covid-19 is now reported.

This group is divided into three categories:

• where covid-19 is the clear cause of death;
• where there was another clear cause of death; and
• where the cause of deaths is not known.

Deaths will mount
By Thursday this week, 34 people had died where covid-19 was clearly the cause, two people had died of another clear cause after testing positive for covid-19, and the deaths of 48 people with the virus did not yet have a clear cause, the ministry said.

As covid-19 cases mount, increasing numbers of deaths will also follow as people progress through the disease, the ministry said.

“It important to remember that each of these deaths represents significant loss for family and loved ones.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Auckland health authorities remain cautiously optimistic that the omicron outbreak may have peaked in the country’s biggest city, even though 601 of the 856 people in hospital with covid-19 are in Auckland.

Clinical leads Dr Andrew Old, Dr Anthony Jordan and Dr Christine McIntosh at the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre gave details today on the covid-19 response.

Dr Old confirmed there were seven new deaths of people with covid-19 to report today.– the highest death toll in a day since the outbreak began.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: Seven new deaths reported, 20,989 new community cases
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

Five of the deaths were in Auckland, one in Waikato, and one in the Southern region, reports the Ministry of Health.

One person was in their 50s, four were in their 70s, one was their 80s, and one person was in their 90s. Four were male and three were female.

The number of people in hospital has also risen to a record 856 people, with 20 in ICU —  including 10 in Auckland — and the total new cases today is 20,989.

The total number of publicly reported covid-19 related deaths is now 98.

“It highlights that although omicron is a mild illness for many people, for some it is not,” said Dr Old.

“Every death is a tragedy and our thoughts and condolences are with the families and loved ones of the people who have passed away.”

Cautiously optimistic
He remained cautiously optimistic about the situation in Auckland.

“Our three-day rolling average of cases is about 8500 per day, which is down from a peak of about 14,000.

“Today in Auckland was the first time since this started that we had fewer people in hospital with covid at 8am this morning than we did yesterday. One day is not a trend, but certainly that is the first time.”

At Counties Manukau, the number of people coming through the door at ED is lower than it was last week. It was too early to call it, he said, but there were some encouraging signs.

Dr Old said health services in some cases were managing on a day-to-day, shift-by-shift, or hour-by-hour basis.

“I would say that we are in a crunch at the moment, so a lot of our services are operating at what’s called minimum service delivery, so a lot of those sort of more routine, corporate type activities are being put on hold.”

He said authorities knew not every case had been detected, but there was good testing coverage, with about 15 percent of people enrolled with a GP in Auckland having been tested in the past fortnight.

Relatively young
The average age of people in hospitals is still relatively young, but as the total hospitalisations have risen, more older and vulnerable members have been affected.

Dr Old said this was a trend that matched those seen overseas, and omicron tended to have a long tail, with more vulnerable and older populations more likely to be affected towards the end of outbreaks.

“People need to remain vigilant to protect those in our families and communities who are at greater risk.”

He said it was a mild illness for most people but a more severe illness for other people you could pass it on to.

Another reason to remain vigilant is the problem of long covid, he said. What was known about long covid from other variants should give pause, he said.

He urged people to keep up mask use and good hygiene as it will make a real difference as we start to come out of the outbreak and beyond.

He said authorities were expecting hospitalisations to increase again this week and they have. As a percentage of current active cases this remains about 0.5 percent, and across the whole outbreak about 1.5 percent of cases have been treated in hospital.

Dr Old said that was likely to be an overestimate, because not all infections were being reported and counted.

‘We know it’s pretty tough out there’
Dr McIntosh said that in the peak of the outbreak the whole system was feeling the strain.

“We know it’s pretty tough out there and we know that you’re doing a phenomenal job.”

She said it was not just the staff in Auckland, it was the system and workers across the whole country who were supporting the health efforts.

She said it was important that people with severe or worsening symptoms to seek help and call 111 without delay.

“Your GP and healthline are there to help you if you need it … we would rather help and help you manage a worsening illness at the earlier stages than wait until someone is really dangerously ill.”

Dr McIntosh said there were pressures within GP practices and the primary care organisation leads were met with every day, and those issues are discussed.

“But indeed it is pretty stretched … the crunch is on.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Royal NZ College of General Practitioners president Dr Samantha Murton gave a briefing today on the government’s response to the omicron outbreak as hospital cases continue to climb.

The daily number of new community cases has dropped slightly today to 21,015 community cases, but the number of people in hospital with the coronavirus continues to rise, reaching 773.

There are now more people in hospital with covid-19 than at any other point over the past two years, the Ministry of Health said.

• READ MORE: Other NZ covid outbreak reports

There are 16 people in intensive care, with one new death reported today.

While the ministry initially said there were 845 people in hospital, it revised that number this afternoon to 773.

Today’s numbers are down compared to yesterday’s 22,454 and 742 hospitalisations, with a record 19 cases in ICU.

Speaking at today’s briefing, Dr Murton said 80 percent of GPs were now looking after more than 20 patients.

“It has put a huge amount of work on general practice. When you think about the fact that there are 20,000 people who have got covid every day and across the country 50,000 consultations normally happen every day, that’s a 50 percent increase in workload if we had to deal with every one of those 20,000 that came through,” she said.

‘Huge amount of work’
“It has put a huge amount of work on general practice. When you think about the fact that there are 20,000 people who have got covid every day and across the country 50,000 consultations normally happen every day, that’s a 50 percent increase in workload if we had to deal with every one of those 20,000 that came through,” she said.

“My colleagues want me to remind everyone that we are working really hard, doing our best for our patients and although we are prepared and have done the best we can do for when the outbreak occurred, it is still going to be a little bit messy for the next couple of weeks.”

Watch the media briefing

Video: RNZ News

She said that was because there were people who wanted care and then people who needed care and were “quite vulnerable”.

Those vulnerable people will be the ones GPs are focusing on, she said.

“The other thing we have found is that across the country, people are stressed.

“People are stressed about having covid, people are stressed about being isolated, about not being able to go out, about having family members who might be sick and the practices are under pressure to provide as much care as they can and so that stress can often end up with a lot of anxiety and peoples’ emotions might flare, to put it politely.

“My colleagues have suggested people be kind to their providers.

‘Have a bit of patience’
“Please have a bit of patience as patients.”

She also put out a reminder that booster vaccine shots were the best protection people could get.

Auckland hospitals have reported that they are dealing with far more covid-19 cases than even their worst case scenarios predicted, with daily case numbers as high as 533 across the city’s hospitals this week.

In Wellington, frontline care workers are operating around the clock to help the more than 17,000 people across the region who are isolating at home and in need of some level of assistance.

Canterbury District Health Board is already teetering on patient capacity, three weeks away from an expected peak of covid-19 cases.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins has announced that the isolation period for covid-19 cases and their household contacts is reducing to one week, down from 10 days, from tomorrow.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

After 23 days, the occupation at Aotearoa New Zealand’s Parliament was finally brought to a chaotic and violent end. The Detail talks to two reporters who were there as it all unfolded.

Torn tents, burnt trees and a scorched lawn were all that remained on Wednesday night of the 23-day protest on Parliament grounds.

That morning, when the operation to clear the occupation began, RNZ’s Charlotte Cook and Stuff’s Thomas Manch had arrived before daybreak.

Even before the first clashes erupted between the police and protesters, there was a sense of tension.

• LISTEN TO THE DETAIL: End of the Parliament siege
• LISTEN TO RNZ FIRST UP: ‘Pack up and go home’ — Wellington deputy mayor Sarah Free
• READ MORE:  Political parties condemn Parliament protesters, praise police actions
• Parliament protest aftermath – NZ police enter ‘significant investigation phase’
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

“We had some suspicion that something was going to happen,” says Manch.

“You don’t get 500 police officers in a city without people noticing.”

For an hour it was quiet, but the protesters seemed agitated.

They knew something was up, too.

Noticed some signals
“They’d been talking about it on their channels, they’d noticed some of the signals that we’d noticed,” says Manch.

Protest security guards were communicating on their walkie-talkies and flashing strobe lights in the faces of the reporters.

“And then the police helicopter was in the air, that was the start of it, that was the beginning,” says Manch

Cook watched police officers come out of the back of Parliament, march past Lambton Quay and along Stout Street. The protesters were yelling.

“They were upset, they knew something was going to happen but what that looked like they weren’t sure”.

There were moments when both Cook and Manch feared for their safety.

Cook was nearly caught in the crossfire when protesters were hurling orange traffic cones at the police.

Aggressive agitators
Manch says aggressive agitators, who were pushed away from the frontline by other protesters, turned on him and the Stuff visual journalist filming it.

“We were mobbed out of the protest site by a group of people who were very angry, very threatening and very aggressive.”

It was when Cook watched people standing in front of police cars and throwing whatever objects they could find that she knew the aggression and conflict would escalate.

The clashes continued for more than 14 hours as protesters and riot gear-clad police pushed up against each other again and again.

Manch watched as the police made their way towards Parliament, picking up tents as they went.

“They would advance, claim a bunch of the territory, clear it out with a forklift and then they would move again,” he says.

Cook says the last 23 days have left her in shock.

“It feels like such a distant memory that the Parliament forecourt and grass area were green and luscious — it was the kind of place you want to take your shoes off and rub your toes in the grass.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Police are out in force in New Zealand’s capital Wellington after yesterday’s massive operation to clear the illegal anti-covid public health measures occupation of Parliament grounds.

There were chaotic scenes as protesters scrambled to save what gear they could and some were pepper-sprayed.

People set fire to trees and tents and loud bangs could be heard — possibly gas canisters exploding — as the flames spread, damaging the children’s playground and surrounding trees.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 23,183 new community cases, 503 in hospital
• NZ Parliament grounds ‘reclaimed’: Police operation ends 23-day protest
• Future of protests at Parliament to be reconsidered – Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

The fires were put out, allowing police to push protesters onto the streets but tensions simmered for hours.

At the height of the confrontation officers fired sponge bullets and protesters hurled bricks, pieces of of wood, rubbish and traffic cones in running battles on central city streets.

As of late last night, 87 people had been arrested for offences including trespass, wilful damage and possession of restricted weapons.

Question time cancelled
Parliament’s regular question time has been cancelled today and MPs are instead delivering speeches on yesterday’s chaos.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern makes an initial statement, followed by other party leaders.

The House will then adjourn early and return on Tuesday.

As damage to Parliament’s grounds and surrounding streets is assessed, the future of protest in New Zealand — both online and in person — will have to be reconsidered, said Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson.

This morning parliamentary services workers were out in gloves beginning the work of dismantling and disposing of piles of debris left strewn across the site when protesters were forced out by police yesterday.

The violent scenes ended a three-week occupation, and left behind couches, clothing, tents and gazebos, barbecues, gas bottles and camping gear, as well as the gaps left when paving stones were torn out and hurled at police and charred damage from fires lit in a final desperate stand.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health reported 23,183 new community cases of covid-19 today, with 503 people in hospital, including seven in intensive care.

In a statement, the ministry said a new death of a New Zealander with covid-19 had been recorded with a person dying in a Bay of Plenty rest home. The person died of an unrelated medical condition while receiving palliative care and had tested positive for the coronavirus.

There are 146,527 known active community cases in New Zealand.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the national health system relies on New Zealanders’ continued cooperation as almost 20,000 cases are announced today.

Dr Bloomfield is resuming his appearance at daily 1pm media briefings amid the omicron outbreak, with peak cases and hospitalisations expected in the next few weeks.

He said today nearly 20,000 new cases of covid-19 had been reported, with 373 people in hospital, nine of whom are in ICU.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: Nearly 20,000 community cases, 373 in hospital, 9 in ICU
• Border controls: Tourists may be welcomed to NZ earlier, says Skegg
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

He said it was hard to estimate how many people in hospital with covid-19 were there because of the virus, as opposed to simply having the virus and being there for a different reason.

However, he said Middlemore Hospital’s estimate of about 70 percent to 80 percent presenting because of covid-19 symptoms gives a good gauge.

There are just under 100,000 active cases across the motu, he said.

“I know that such a high daily case number can be concerning for people to hear, and many of us will now have whānau members who now have covid-19, but it’s important to remember that covid-19 now is a very different foe to what it was at the beginning of the pandemic.”

He said what had helped New Zealand so far had been doing the basics well and people should keep doing this — wearing masks, practising good hand hygiene, and avoiding going out if unwell.

“There’s no doubt the next few weeks are going to be tough, the health system can’t do it alone, so thanks in advance to all New Zealanders for continuing to support our efforts to live with the virus on our terms.”

Watch a replay of the briefing here:

The media conference today. Video: RNZ News

He said the high vaccination rate meant for most people omicron would be a milder illness and could be managed safely at home.

Dr Bloomfield says PCR testing had served New Zealand “incredibly well”, but with thousands of cases each day the country reached the point last week where rapid antigen testing became both useful and appropriate.

He said samples were typically pooled earlier on in the outbreak, but a positive test in a batch means each will need to be retested. Higher test positivity rates now, however, mean it becomes less feasible.

He said prior to February 7, none of the labs had ever exceeded 5 percent test positivity, but the swift increase in positive cases has affected that. Labs have also had other difficulties, including vacancies in roles and sickness because some lab workers had contracted the virus.

Apology over test result backlog
Dr Bloomfield said he wanted to apologise to people whose tests had been delayed, but said they had committed to completing the test processing.

People are still advised to seek a test, though some people facing a longer delay should also seek a rapid antigen test, he said.

The samples affected by the backlog might be slightly less accurate — they were more likely to show a negative result — but all positive results would be accurate.

Dr Bloomfield said some 9000 tests were sent to Queensland for testing, to help clear the backlog. He said the backlog was clearing, but anyone who had had a test on February 23 or earlier, or who had developed symptoms, should collect a rapid antigen test from their local testing centre or seek advice from Healthline.

He said the problem with delays in PCR testing was less to do with delays in rolling out rapid antigen tests, and more to do with the ministry being “a day or two late” to recognise how quickly the virus was spreading.

“Once the samples were in the lab it’s hard to take them out and redistribute them, so we still had capacity across the network but we didn’t have the opportunity to redistribute them and probably if we’d started to do that a day or two earlier, then we may still have had a backlog but perhaps not such a big one.”

Dr Bloomfield said test processing had got to a much more manageable level in the past 24 to 48 hours.

He said there was strong uptake of RATs for people who had symptoms, or who were household or close contacts, as well as surveillance testing at hospitals and aged care facilities.

If people needed to pick up a rapid antigen test, the Healthpoint website had an increasing list of places where they were available.

Dr Bloomfield said there were good numbers of the tests available now — more than five million had been distributed in the last seven days, there were over 12 million in storage, and more than 16 million were expected to arrive this week.

Self-reporting of test results
Bloomfield thanks the more than 40,000 people who have self-reported a rapid antigen test result. He says it is an important measure to give officials a good idea of how far the virus is spreading.

He says people who are unwell will be given enough tests for three tests per eligible person in their household. People who are critical workers can also preorder the tests online from testing centres.

During question time Dr Bloomfield said there was a bit of a lag on whole genome sequencing for those who have been in hospital, and with the short hospital stay times, there is not an accurate picture of how many cases in hospital are omicron versus delta.

The most common symptoms are cough, sore and scratchy throat, a runny nose, and generally feeling unwell, “that sort of flu-ey feeling, the whole body aches”, but people who are not boosted are far more likely to have more severe symptoms.

Dr Bloomfield said the loss of sense of smell and taste does not appear to be as much of a notable symptom for omicron, but some young people had also been experiencing an upset stomach.

The past two days have seen daily cases above the 14,000 mark, and hospitalisations have also continued to increase, reaching 344 yesterday.

It comes as the government yesterday confirmed New Zealanders would be able to return to New Zealand without isolating, with the date for returnees from countries other than Australia brought forward to Friday.

New Zealanders in Australia and critical workers were yesterday able to return without entering managed isolation.

People who are eligible but have not yet got their booster shot are urged to, as it protects against both transmission and severe illness from the omicron variant.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Epidemiologist Sir David Skegg, who along with his team has been providing advice to the New Zealand government on the covid-19 response, says more border restrictions may ease soon, as the opposition National Party calls for all visitors to be allowed into the country.

Yesterday, the government announced that from 11.59pm on Wednesday, vaccinated New Zealanders returning to the country and who test negative on pre-departure will no longer have to self-isolate on arrival.

The move brings forward step two of the phased reopening of the border, but the National Party says that does not go far enough and is calling for the border to be open to all visitors, to jump-start the tourism industry.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘The next few weeks are going to be very challenging’ – Sir David Skegg

The government relied on urgent advice from the Strategic Covid-19 Public Health Advisory Group — chaired by Sir David — before making the changes.

Sir David told Morning Report the next few weeks were expected to be very challenging on the health system as the peak of the omicron outbreak evolves, so it was best to wait until then before making decisions about opening to tourists.

“We still don’t know where it’s going to end. The number of people going into hospital every day is increasing, so I’m not surprised that they’re [the government] just going to take a bit of time to decide about that, but I expect that tourists will be welcome to New Zealand earlier than we expected,” he said.

“And it’s funny everyone calls for certainty, but actually this is a case where the uncertainty has been beneficial to those interests because the dates are coming forward.”

Tourism industry planning
However, National Party Covid-19 response spokesperson Chris Bishop told Morning Report that the tourism industry needed that certainty from now to plan ahead.

“If you talk to people involved in the tourism industry, they are literally borrowing money on their credit cards, mortgaging their houses to try and get through. And so what we can do for them is reconnect New Zealand to the world, open those borders, and allow tourists to come here,” he said.

“You’re probably not going to see a massive influx of tourists straight away in the next two to three, four weeks, you know, airlines have got to put flights on.

“But it is really important that we send signal to the airlines and to the airport that tourists are going to come and they’re going to come soon because airlines are making those bookings for the next few months and the next year right now so they do need some certainty, they do need that time frame.”

Bishop said while there would be some risk in such a decision, it was about considering the “relative risk”.

“The relative risk of allowing people who are vaccinated, who have passed the pre-departure test, to arrive into New Zealand, going into a country with one of the highest reproduction rates in the world right now and with 15,000 covid cases per day, the relative risk is much lower.

“But you’ve also got to weigh that up against the incredibly tough circumstances that our tourist parts of the economy have been in over the last two years.”

‘Minimal effect’ on NZ
On the other hand, Bishop said yesterday’s announcement was undoubtedly good news for the grounded New Zealanders who would be excited to once again be able to see their friends and whānau here.

Sir David said the changes announced yesterday would only have a “minimal effect” on New Zealand’s situation.

“The impact of this on the progress of our epidemic in New Zealand will be very small, really quite slight. The fact is that we’ve got thousands of new cases occurring every day … the number of people turning up at the airport who are infected at the moment it’s an average of about 10 a day.

“That number will go up, of course, with more people coming into New Zealand, but it will have a minimal effect on our epidemic.”

The government has asked the advisory group to now review the role of vaccine passes and mandates for the future.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has warned that nearly every New Zealand school and early childhood centre will have contact with covid-19 in the next few weeks.

He told students at Mana College in Porirua today that one in five schools were already managing cases among students or staff but they were well prepared.

“We’re now up to one in five schools [which] have covid-19 cases in them and that’s going to just continue to increase from here,” he said.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 12,011 new community cases in New Zealand today, five deaths
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

“We expect in the next few weeks that just about every school, every early childhood service potentially is going to end up coming into contact with covid-19 as it spreads more rapidly throughout the community. That is now going to happen,” he said.

His comments came as the Ministry of Health reported an almost doubling of new community cases to 12,011, with five further deaths — the highest number in a single day taking the total to 61.

Yesterday’s number was 6137 cases.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 8223 of the positive results came from Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs), while 3807 were PCR tests.

There are currently 237 people in hospital with the coronavirus, including three in intensive care.

92% of students vaccinated
Hipkins said 92 percent of secondary students were fully vaccinated, the government had 42 million facemasks on order or in the country for schools, and it was expecting 5000 air purifiers for rooms with poor ventilation.

He also said schools might get easier access to rapid antigen tests after two large orders arrived in the next two weeks.

Currently the tests were a last resort for teachers who were isolating and whose schools could not find enough teachers to safely supervise children who could not be at home, such as the children of essential workers.

“In another week or two we will have a greater supply of rapid antigen tests in the country and at that point we may be able to say actually we can be a bit more generous than that and we can provide tests in a few more circumstances than that including for what we call surveillance which is just to give you reassurance that it’s not out there,” Hipkins said.

Auckland Secondary Principals Association president Steve Hargreaves said that could make a big difference as the pandemic bites.

“That’ll help keep schools open.

“Schools are having to roster year levels home and children are having to learn remotely because so many staff are tied up as close contacts, family members have test positive but they’re still well, they’ve been able to isolate successfully at home and if we can keep those teachers in schools through the use of rapid antigen tests, that’ll be good for our children.”

After-school sport
Hipkins also promised to clarify the rules around unvaccinated children’s participation in after-school sport and cultural activities.

The Education Ministry’s website said there were no limits on curriculum-related activities like PE classes, but extra-curricular events like team training at schools must be limited to 25 people if any were unvaccinated and 100 if all were vaccinated.

Hipkins said that was not the government’s intention.

“Some schools are interpreting something like a kapa haka rehearsal after school hours or sports after school hours as being included in the guidance.

“We’d never intended for that to be the case so we’re clarifying that so to make it clear that if you’re participating in a school-organised activity, that includes sports, kapa haka, those other cultural events, the vaccine requirement will not apply,” he said.

The minister’s office and the ministry were unable to confirm details and Hargreaves said that was a shame, because he had unvaccinated students ready to play sport tomorrow.

“It’s really sad because we don’t want to exclude any children from these great extra-curricular opportunities but we’ve been following the guidelines around events, gatherings and those size limits and of course College Sport Auckland has its rule around needing to be vaccinated to comply with those rules and that’s blocked a few kids from playing and the sooner we can get this tidied up the better,” he said.

More detail needed
School Sport New Zealand chief executive Mike Summerell said he wanted to see more detail but allowing more unvaccinated children to play sport would be good.

“We welcome the news. It’s been a divisive and difficult time for sport and for schools in terms of inter-school activity but the announcement this morning means more kids are going to have access to sport where over the last few months they haven’t so that’s a real positive,” he said.

He said the change would not be enough to return big regional sports tournaments to the calendar because they involved more than 100 people.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Covid-19 will be in ‘just about every school’ soon – Hipkins https://t.co/6095x7BEfX

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 25, 2022

New Zealand will move to phase 3 of the omicron response at 11.59pm tonight, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Hipkins laid out what phase 3 includes.

While the ministry’s daily update of case numbers will come out later this afternoon, Hipkins confirmed today’s cases were “about 5000”. The actual figure was later confirmed as 6137 new cases and one death.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 6137 new community cases in NZ today, one further death
• Covid-19 cases among anti-mandate protesters at Parliament

“This continued rise and also the number of hospitalisations we have which today sit at 205 means that we are now confirming our shift to phase 3 of our planned Omicron response. That’ll happen at 11.59pm tonight.”

He says most had been gearing up for this and it would not come as a surprise.

However, the move to phase three would not mean a “sudden lurch” in terms of additional restrictions or movements, because the traffic light system had been designed to smooth things out already.

“Our priorities now shift to isolating those with covid-19 and their household contacts to reduce the spread, while at the same time supporting supply chains and essential services to continue to operate.”

Only confirmed cases
Only confirmed cases and their household contacts – the people they lived with – would be required to isolate. All other contacts would be asked to monitor for symptoms but they would not have to isolate.

Hipkins said it was important to note that the legal requirement to isolate for cases and household contacts did not mean people who did not fit in those groups should not isolate.

“If you have a friend who has covid-19, you can make a judgment about whether you think you might be at risk … we are asking New Zealanders to accept a much greater degree of personal responsibility.”

Watch the announcement:

Today’s media briefing. Video: RNZ News

Dr Bloomfield said healthcare workforces who were essential and were household contacts were not allowed to go back to work for the first seven days but may return to work after that — three days early — if they returned a negative RAT on days five and six and were asymptomatic.

Hipkins said detailed information would be sent to schools but the principle remained the same — if you are not a household contact you are not required to isolate.

He said he acknowledged some parents were in a better situation than others.

Dr Bloomfield said people who did not respond to the text message would be followed up to confirm whether or not they needed clinical or social support to isolate.

RATs primary testing
Rapid antigen tests (RATs) will become the primary means of testing for covid-19, and will be available from thousands of sites. Millions more are expected to arrive over the coming days.

It is expected that businesses would be able to make the tests available to the public through retail outlets from March, he said.

Hipkins said RAT tests had been distributed throughout the health network.

“They’re available to people who need them … through the testing network,” he said.

“The last thing we want is people sitting on big stockpiles of them when there’s more demand elsewhere.”

Businesses have been able to import RATs since the beginning of December, but many “like ourselves, have had challenges in securing supplies because of global constraints”, Dr Bloomfield said.

He said clinics in Tāmaki Makaurau would begin rolling out supervised rapid antigen testing from today.

Testing locations
Locations where people can get a rapid antigen tests would be listed on the Healthpoint website.

He said there were 6.3 million unused tests in the country yesterday, another million arrived last night and another 10 million were expected to arrive in the coming week.

Hipkins said that because only household contacts were required to isolate, a self-assessment tool would help the government keep track of very high risk locations and the overall spread of the virus.

This included things like hospitals and aged care facilities.

Hospitalisations had become a major focus and daily case numbers would be a less important metric from now, Hipkins said.

“There’s no doubt the next few weeks are going to be pretty challenging… We just need to stick to the plan that we’ve set out as we manage a higher number of cases in our coming weeks before we reach a peak as other countries have,” he said.

Dr Bloomfield said hospitalisation rates were about 85 percent at the moment, which was “about what they usually are”, but an increase in cases would drive an increase.

Isolation plans needed
That said, “if you are unwell for any reason, you can and should seek care in our health system and that includes in our hospitals”.

Hipkins said omicron’s lower likelihood of severe illness, and high vaccination rates, were what allowed the self-management approach.

He suggested people should have an isolation plan, and talk to friends and whānau about how they would manage if they needed to isolate.

He also urged people to take up booster shots.

“You are far less likely to end up in hospital if you get covid-19 [and] if you’ve had a booster.”

He said modelling of the low-transmission scenario assumes high booster uptake.

Dr Bloomfield said two new studies confirmed the vaccine protected against getting infected in the first place and protected against severe illness.

“One of the studies, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that compared with being unvaccinated the odds of contracting omicron after receiving three doses dropped by 67 percent — two thirds — and for delta the risk declined by a stunning 93 percent.”

“So a highly-boosted population here will serve us all well.”

Covid cases among protesters at Parliament
The Ministry of Health has reported there have been at least two positive covid-19 test results among the anti-mandate protesters in Wellington.

The ministry said the infected people had been told to self-isolate.

However, it would not say if the cases were among those who had been arrested in the past few days.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said a team of staff working at the protest had caught covid-19 and while it had not been linked to protesters, it “stands to reason” the coronavirus was there.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson is urging New Zealanders to take omicron seriously, and certainly not to think of it as similar to the flu.

The warning comes as new modelling shows omicron could peak by mid next month with about 4000 daily cases.

Professor Jackson, professor of epidemiology at Auckland University, told RNZ Morning Report there was “no doubt” New Zealanders were not taking omicron seriously.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘There’s a couple of things we really need to do — get maximally vaccinated and wear a good mask’ — Auckland epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson
• READ MORE: The occupation of NZ’s parliament grounds is a tactical challenge for police, but mass arrests are not an option
• Omicron outbreak in police dealing with Parliament protest — 16th day
• Covid-19 update: Record 3297 new community cases reported in NZ today – 179 in hospital
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

“The standard thing I hear these days is, ‘Oh, this is just a mild condition, it’s like a mild flu’ — and it’s just not true,” he said.

“In the [United] States, for example, more people have died from omicron, than died from delta. It’s also worth noting that I mean if you ever had a bad flu, you feel like you want to die.

“It’s not a particularly good comparison. The flu kills 500 people a year. Normally that’s almost double the road crash death rate. It’s about the same as suicide, just a bit less.

“This is a serious disease that people need to take seriously.”

High omicron death rate
The high omicron death rate in the US was because the variant was so contagious, Dr Jackson said.

“It spreads like wildfire, and I guess that’s the other important issue when we’re thinking about the comparison between the flu and and Omicron is that the R value, the number of people that one infected person with the flu is going to infect, is less than two.

“With omicron, we don’t even know how big it is. It’s certainly much bigger than delta, which was about six (people infected per person), so this is a very different disease from the flu and we need to take it seriously.

“We need to go out and get maximally vaccinated.”

On that point, Dr Jackson said there were a likely a lot of reasons more people had not got a booster shot.

“One is, we’re all a little over it, aren’t we? Everyone is tired. Everyone wants to go back to normal.

“Secondly there is this general view is that I hear — ‘Oh, but isn’t omicron, you know, just like a cold?’

‘People die of this’
“For some people, it’s very mild. For some people it’s asymptomatic, but people die of this.

“Look at the hospital rates. Every New Zealander should have a look at the graph of the number of hospitalisations, and if you look at it in the last week or two, it’s going almost vertically.

“There’s a couple of things we really need to do – get maximally vaccinated and wear a good mask.”

Today the Ministry of Health confirmed 3297 new cases of covid-19 in the community in New Zealand, with 179 people in hospital with the coronavirus, including one in intensive care.

There were also eight new cases in managed isolation today.

Yesterday the Ministry of Health reported 2846 covid-19 cases in the community and 143 people in hospital with the virus.

There have now been 38,951  cases of covid-19 in New Zealand.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said that police staff working at the anti-mandate protest outside Parliament had contracted covid-19.

He said while they could not link transmission to the protest, with people coming far and wide for the demonstration, he would be surprised if there was no covid among protesters.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the omicron outbreak is likely to peak in Aotearoa New Zealand in three to six weeks.

At that point, she says, the country will move down the traffic light settings, easing off gathering limits.

“We are predicting cases will continue to double every three to four days … it’s likely then that very soon we will all know people who have covid, or we will potentially get it ourselves,” Ardern says.

• READ MORE:  Covid-19 update: 2365 new community cases, two deaths and 116 in hospital
• NZ’s Parliament anti-mandates protest deadlock – where to from here?
• NZ capital’s residents fed up with Parliament protest as new covid cases hit record 2522
• Mad, bad or mostly moderate? Media’s mixed message on protest
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

She says there are three reasons that is no longer as scary a prospect as it used to be.

“Firstly, we are highly vaccinated, and that happened before omicron set in.”

Secondly she said that meant omicron would be a mild to moderate illness, and boosters made hospitalisation 10 times less likely.

Third, public health measures like masks, gathering limits and vaccine passes were helping slow down the spread to ensure everyone who needed a hospital bed can get it.

The plan is working
“So far, that plan is working. We have 46 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 367 in New South Wales and 664 in Victoria at the same point in the outbreak. Our hospitalisations too are well below Australian states at a similar time.”

Ardern said cases were likely to peak in mid- to late March, some three to six weeks away.

At that point a rapid decline, followed by cases stabilising at a lower level was likely.

Ardern said at that point the traffic light system could change, because it meant public health measures used to protect the health system could be eased off.

She said vaccine passes had been necessary as the “least bad option” but they had always been temporary.

After we come through a wave and a peak of omicron, many unvaccinated people would have been exposed to covid-19.

She says coming through the peak would allow the government to ease mandates in places where they were less likely to impact on vulnerable people.

“They will remain important in some areas though, for some time.”

Beyond omicron … the easing of covid restrictions. Video: RNZ News

Mandates to remain in some areas
Mandates were likely to remain for some areas — particularly sections of the healthcare workforce — but there would be a narrowing of where they were required, she said.

She said it was hard to set a date, but the government needed to ensure the country was  “well beyond the peak” and that the pressure on the health system was manageable.

She said the reasons not to do away with the traffic light system entirely was so the country was prepared for new variants and potential future waves, and the coming of winter at the same time as flu returns.

“To summarise then, the coming weeks. Covid will increase, and rapidly. There will be disruption and pressure from omicron. We must brace through the next six weeks, but we can do so knowing the future with fewer restrictions is near because that has always been the course we have chartered,” Ardern said.

She said that as the country reached the peak and started to come down New Zealanders could all move towards a “new normal” they can all live with.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson has outlined new financial supports to help businesses impacted by the red settings.

High daily cases continue
Daily covid-19 cases continued to increase dramatically over the weekend, reaching a new high of 2522 on Sunday — with two new deaths — and remaining above 2300 today.

The high case load has also led to an increase in related hospitalisations, putting strain on the health system which is already seeing some patients spending up to 36 hours in emergency departments, often waiting for hours in corridors.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there had also been two covid-19 related deaths as well as 2365 new community cases.

“Sadly, we are today reporting the death of a patient at Middlemore Hospital.”

A patient in their 70s at Auckland City Hospital also died following a diagnosis of Covid-19, the ministry said.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with both patients’ family and friends.”

There are 116 people in hospital today – one in Northland, 20 in North Shore, 34 in Middlemore, 47 in Auckland, one in Tauranga, 12 in Waikato and one in Tairāwhiti.

There is one case in ICU or HDU.

The average age of the current hospitalisations is 58.

Ardern’s message to protesters
Ardern said she had a final message for those occupying the lawns of Parliament: “Everyone is over covid. No one wants to live with rules or restrictions, but had we not been willing to work together to protect one another then we would have all been worse off as individuals, including losing people we love.

“That hasn’t happened here for the most part and that is a fact worth celebrating, rather than protesting.

“We all want to go back to the way life was, and we will, I suspect sooner than you think. But when that happens it will be because easing restrictions won’t compromise the life of thousands of people — not because you demand it.

“Now is not the time to dismantle our hard work and preparation, to remove our armour just as the battle begins.”

Ardern said she still had confidence in the police commissioner and “the enormous job” he and all police did every day, including on the forecourt of Parliament right now.

Asked when protesters would be gone, she said enforcement of the law was a decision that lay with police, she said.

She said her speech today was “absolutely not” in response to the demands of the protesters.

‘Bullying’ and ‘harassment’
She said the protesters had been engaging in illegal activity that bordered on and demonstrated “bullying” and “harassment” of Wellingtonians, and she found the opposition calls for more details on lowering restrictions “quite upsetting to see they now seem to be responding and sympathising with the protesters”.

She said no one should have to put up with having human waste thrown at them, as police say happened this morning.

This morning she again urged protesters at Parliament to go home.

Police early today moved to contain the convoy protest — which has now been at Parliament for two weeks — by installing concrete barriers to prevent more vehicles from entering the area.

A researcher today warned that the continued presence of far-right elements among the protesters risked greater radicalisation, and possible violence.

Ardern has maintained there will be no engagement with the protesters, and although ACT leader David Seymour spoke to some of their representatives last week, all parties have since signed a letter from the Speaker saying there would be no dialogue from politicians until disruptive and threatening behaviour was brought to an end.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Some residents of the area around New Zealand’s Parliament in the capital Wellington are worried about leaving their houses with protesters outside, while police say they will clamp down on any abusive behaviour.

Protesters have been occupying Parliament’s lawn and surrounding areas for close to two weeks.

The growing frustration with the protesters comes as 111,000 people have signed a petition calling for an end to the anti-mandates occupation, the indigenous National Māori Authority has organised a counter-protest and new covid-19 cases have hit a record 2522 today as the omicron variant spreads.

• READ MORE: Covid-19: Hospitalisations rise to all-time high on record day of omicron spread
• ‘Tell the protesters to go home’: Movements against Wellington protest fire up
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

Today’s 100 people in hospital was also the largest total of the outbreak.

According to RNZ data, hospitalisations hit highs of 93 cases twice in November.

In 2020’s first covid-19 outbreak, the highest number of people in hospital at one time was 89.

None of the 100 hospital cases announced today were in intensive care units. The hospital cases are mostly in Auckland, but there are also cases in Waikato, Tauranga, Rotorua and Tairāwhiti.

Number in hospital grows
The number of people in hospital has been growing steadily all week as new cases rose, and has tripled since 32 people were in hospital on February 13.

According to the Ministry of Health’s website, as of February 19 a total of 836 people had been hospitalised during the pandemic, and 69 people were in ICU care.

A Hill St resident who asked not to be named said the protest had spread further so he was now living in the middle of it.

During the occupation, he said protesters had tried to remove his housemate’s mask, and other residents had been verbally abused for wearing one, including himself.

The protest appeared to be “anti-everything covid”, not just anti-mandate, he said.

“If it was a more nuanced protest around mandates, you’d see people wearing masks. The reality is there’s nobody wearing masks there.

“It’s a complete denial of the risk of covid whatsoever, which is really concerning. I’d feel a lot more comfortable if people were wearing masks.”

The resident has been going to his work every day to avoid being around the protest and said his neighbours had also gone away.

He didn’t feel entirely safe having to walk past and through hundreds of unmasked people to get home, he said.

Policing being strengthened
In a statement tonight, New Zealand police said that they were strengthening the policing of abusive behaviour around the protest, as well as traffic management and road traffic controls.

“Regular reassurance patrols of local businesses have been increased,” police said.

“Staff have also been instructed to take a zero-tolerance approach to any abuse, intimidation or violence against members of the public.”

Police said there would be an increased presence around the start and end of each day.

“Anyone abusing or intimidating members of the public can expect to be arrested, removed and face charges,” they said.

The Wellington Hill St resident wanted protesters to wear a mask, for the streets to be cleared so people could walk freely without harassment, and for protesters to stick to the lawns of Parliament.

“I am furious about the occupation of the bus exchange, I mean it’s a parking lot campsite now.

Standstill of public infrastructure
“That doesn’t affect the politicians. It’s not going to change anyone’s view on mandates, all it creates is a complete standstill of public infrastructure in Wellington. It’s nothing but disruptive.”

While he wanted to see the streets cleared, he was concerned that he could end up in the middle of a riot if the police stepped in.

“If we see the break out of a riot — which I think if police do eventually move in is a real possibility — it will be instigated by those more extreme people, but the reality of mob rule and people who feel pissed off is that they will join in.

“And all of a sudden, we will be right in the middle of a riot.”

Residents were contacted by the protesters about a week ago to see if they’d allow a medical tent to be set up in garages or a back garden who they told to contact the public health service, he said.

“If we were having a party on the street, A – it would get shut down, and B – it wouldn’t be masking over that more like dangerous underbelly of the whole thing whereby people are still being abused.”

Police said that parked vehicles around the protest area had swelled to approximately 2000 on Saturday, with about 800 of those illegally parked. A small number of vehicles were towed.

‘Positive’ engagement
Police said engagement with protest leaders had been “positive” over the weekend.

“Security and safety” were the focus of talks, police said in their statement.

Meanwhile, a counter protest is being launched in response to the Parliament occupation.

If like me you are sick of the #Wellington #nz protest then come.join me. I’m standing up to these so called #freedom grafters #endtheprotest #newzealand #aotearoa pic.twitter.com/I5Ktt66mLP

— Matthew Tukaki (@tukakimatt) February 19, 2022

Matthew Tukaki from the National Māori Authority said an overwhelming number of people had been in touch with him saying they had had enough.

He said the vast number of Wellingtonians were fed up with the disruption to their lives, the abuse and the desecration of the memories of servicemen and women.

Tukaki said it would be an online protest without confrontation, intimidation, abuse or threatening behaviour.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Many central Wellington shops face a crisis, university buildings have been closed for eight weeks and many report major disruptions from the illegal anti-vaccination mandates protest at New Zealand’s Parliament, with people’s patience wearing thin and calls for more decisive action.

Retail NZ said the road blocks and disruption were a disaster for local stores. Some retailers had had to close while others were reducing their operating hours.

Chief executive Greg Harford said very few customers were visiting the central city area of the capital near Parliament, which includes some of Wellington’s prime shopping.

• READ MORE: ‘We’ve had enough’ call to NZ capital protesters from city ‘who’s who’
• Covid-19 update: 1901 new community cases reported in New Zealand today
• Canada protests: Police begin to make arrests at Ottawa
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

“Things were bad before the protests, with the move to the red traffic light setting, but protests and the disruption associated with them are really just keeping customers away from town. Foot traffic is down and sales and down,” he said.

Harford said the government needed to reintroduce the wage subsidy for all businesses affected by omicron — and that the need was particularly acute in Wellington.

Yesterday about 30 Wellington community leaders, including regional mayors, MPs, business leaders and principals signed a letter urging an immediate end to the illegal camp.

Last night Victoria University of Wellington announced its Pipitea campus, which is occupied by the protesters, would remain closed until April 11 to protect staff and students’ health and safety.

Students, disappointed, harassed
Student president Ralph Zambrano said he understood the decision, but students were disappointed more was not done to stop the protest before it disrupted the education they are paying thousands of dollars for.

He said students supported peaceful protest, but they had been subject to harassment and intimidation for 11 days.

The association is running a petition calling for the protesters to be peacefully relocated so the buildings can reopen before April, and now has more than 8000 signatures.

“We want there to be further efforts now to avoid the disruption lasting as long as they’ve set it out to be… which is why we’re going to continue to put pressure for peaceful action,” Zambrano said.

A Wellington City Missioner called on the protesters to go home because of the negative impact on the city’s most vulnerable.

Murray Edridge said it was harder to get around the city and more difficult to access services.

Some streets can’t be used as they’re clogged with protesters’ vehicles, public transport in the capital has had to be re-routed and the mission’s food delivery to people who are isolating with covid-19 and people in need had been disrupted.

Noise, disruption cause extreme anxiety
Edridge said the noise and disruption from protesters was causing extreme anxiety for some, and the mission was also worried about the health risk the large gathering presented.

“The people that come to help us have all been impacted by this. It’s getting very trying on people, and just enhancing the stress on both those who we’re here to serve, and those who are here to serve.”

Edridge said he had no issue with a gathering on the lawns of Parliament, but the blocking of streets was unacceptable.

Meanwhile, an RNZ reporter at the protest site said it was already busy at 10am, the busiest they had seen at that time.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster yesterday said at last count there were about 800 protesters but police expected a “significant number” of people to join the protest over the weekend.

Canadian police clash with anti-vaccine protesters
In Ottawa, the Canadian police have clashed with protesters in the capital as they moved to end an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration.

The operation started early on Friday morning in downtown Ottawa with 70 arrests made.

Police have accused protesters of using children as a shield between lines of officers and the protest site.

The police action came after the government invoked the Emergencies Act to crack down on the three-week protest.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

 

A Kaipara district councillor’s almost week-long participation in New Zealand’s anti-covid-19 mandate protest at Parliament is jeopardising the safety of Kaipara residents, warns Mayor Dr Jason Smith.

Dr Smith said he was particularly worried about those in the councillor’s West Coast/Central council ward which had Kaipara’s lowest vaccination rates.

The councillor was participating in a likely “superspreader” event when health authorities yesterday reported a surge to a record 1160 covid-19 cases.

• READ MORE: NZ Parliament protest: Towing operator says companies ready to remove vehicles
• Other NZ covid anti-mandate protest reports

Anti-mandate campaigner and Kaipara District Council (KDC) councillor Victoria del la Varis-Woodcock left Kaipara for the Wellington anti-vaccine, anti-mandate protest on Thursday, February 10, and was still there yesterday.

She declined to say when she would be returning home. She also dismissed Dr Smith’s safety concerns as “nonsensical”.

Since arriving at the protest, del la Varis-Woodcock has addressed thousands of protesters through a megaphone, calling for the government’s covid-19 legislation to be immediately repealed.

“My name is Victoria del la Varis-Woodcock and I have a message, repeal all covid-19 legislation now,” she has told thousands of Wellington protesters.

Declined to comment
She declined to comment on whether she was representing any of the groups participating in the protest.

Del la Varis-Woodcock has previously told Local Democracy Reporting that elected representatives needed to be role models.

“Elected members need to be role models, need to stand for values of respect, of civil liberties and human rights,” she said.

A video of del la Varis-Woodcock’s speech is circulating online, including accompanying reference to her being a protest organiser, which she said was not the case, in response to Local Democracy Reporting clarification questioning.

The video has been viewed almost 3000 times, amid a protest that started on Tuesday, 8 February 8, and is now entering its ninth day.

She said protesters would be continuing their mission, regardless of water being sprayed or music being played, until the government repealed “draconian” laws it had enacted around the virus.

Del la Varis-Woodcock has been a local government elected representative since 2016.

Individual rights
She said she was not at the protest as a KDC councillor. instead, she was there as a protester exercising her individual rights. It was possible to separate the two.

Mayor Dr Smith said being a councillor was a 24/7 365-day-a-year role.

Dr Smith said del la Varis-Woodcock was entitled to her opinions, but being an elected representative brought a unique position of leadership in her local community that needed to be taken into account.

“As an elected representative there are all sorts of responsibilities to the people and organisation of the council. It is a 24/7, seven day a week role. You don’t get to suddenly be someone else. That’s part of the responsibility of this role,” Dr Smith said.

He said her protest participation was “worrisome” in terms of Kaipara residents’ health and safety.

“It’s a long way to travel from Kaipara to a likely superspreader event during the height of a pandemic with a heightened risk of bringing the virus back here,” Smith said.

That was particularly the case with Omicron rates increasing through the community, he said.

Low vaccination rate
Dr Smith said he was particularly worried about people in del la Varis-Woodcock’s West Coast/Central council ward. Latest available figures showed Māori in this area had a double vaccination rate of just over 71 percent (76.5 percent single dose rate).

Overall, there was a just over 78 percent double vaccination rate and just under 82 percent single vaccinated, he said.

Del la Varis-Woodcock said being at the protest did not compromise being able to carry out her role as a councillor.

She said she would be participating virtually from Wellington in KDC’s District Plan review meeting. The meeting was being held face-to-face in Dargaville Town Hall.

Del la Varis-Woodcock also participated virtually while councillors gathered face-to-face for KDC’s first 2022 meeting, in the same venue on February 2. A vaccination passport is required to enter the building.

Mayor Dr Smith said del la Varis-Woodcock had not provided this.

Del la Varis-Woodcock declined today to confirm her vaccination status, including whether she was unvaccinated.

Personal information
She has previously told Local Democracy Reporting that was her personal information.

Del la Varis-Woodcock describes herself on her Facebook page as “environmentalist, district councillor, mother, artist and lover of language”.

The page shares posts including against vaccination passports and concerns over media representations regarding the virus.

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Published by Asia Pacific Report in collaboration.

Pasifika people are making up about half of the cases in the current outbreak of the omicron variant in Aotearoa New Zealand.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health is urging the Pacific communities in New Zealand to receive their booster vaccination to protect themselves against the virus.

Pacific health director Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone said that in the past few days there had been a big increase in the positive cases of covid-19 in Pacific communities.

• READ MORE: Police act against NZ protester vehicles but admit towies unwilling to help
• Covid-19 daily community case numbers hit 1160 as omicron outbreak grows
• Cooks testing continuing in wake of first covid case
• Other Pacific covid reports

The ministry reported 1160 new community cases of covid-19 in New Zealand today — the first time the number of daily cases has surpassed 1000.

There is a total of 56 people in New Zealand hospitals with the coronavirus, none in intensive care. The average age of the current hospitalisations is 65.

There were also 43 cases at the border today, with travellers arriving from India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, UAE, UK and USA.

Yesterday, 744 new community cases of covid-19 were reported in New Zealand.

Big increase for Pacific
“What we’re seeing over the last few days is quite a big increase in the cases for Pacific and we did anticipate this — it’s what we’ve seen internationally,” said Clifford-Lidstone.

“At the moment, about 50 percent of the cases are Pacific people and mainly in the Auckland region.”

As the country begins phase two of the omicron response, Clifford-Lidstone said the impacts that omicron would have on the community was anticipated.

“We’ve been preparing for omicron and the Pacific community impact of it since very early in January once we realised that this was going to have a significant impact,” Clifford-Lidstone said.

“The risks for Pacific are always going to be very high, and this is mainly because we’ve got higher rates of comorbidities, so long-term conditions,” she said.

“We tend to have multi-generational and multi-family households, and we’re likely to be in employment where there are essential worker roles and face barriers to accessing healthcare.

“Whether it’s delta or omicron, these are consistent right across when we’re talking about covid and the impact on Pacific.”

Booster shot prolongs protection
Clifford-Lidstone said the booster shot would prolong coverage and protection against the variant.

“We’re at 97 percent for the first dose, and for the second dose we’re at 95 percent. But many of these people will now be eligible for the booster shot and, unfortunately, we’re only down at 48 percent across the country.”

Clifford-Lidstone said the decision to move New Zealand into phase two was about “flattening the curve”.

“What we’ve seen now is a lot more widespread community transmission, so it’s reducing the sizes of gatherings, using masks in stores and just generally a different approach to try to manage things.”

The impact of last year’s lockdown has meant fewer Pacific people — particularly in Auckland — were getting tested.

Clifford-Lidstone said there was a growing sense of “fatigue” among the community which had spent almost four months in lockdown.

“As I understand it, there is an increasing feeling that people don’t want to get tested because they don’t want to be self-isolating,” she said.

“But the thing is, this is the only way that we can get an understanding of how widespread this is and so encouraging people to go and get tested is very important.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Pasifika people are making up about half of the cases in the current outbreak of the Omicron variant in New Zealand. https://t.co/jIl1luBgmU

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) February 16, 2022

The one million New Zealanders who are so far delaying getting their booster shots are the biggest concern of top covid-19 adviser Sir David Skegg.

Phase two of New Zealand’s Omicron response plan begins at 11.59pm tonight, as daily cases rocket toward the 1000 mark.

Sir David, who is chair of the Strategic Covid-19 Public Health Advisory Group, said Aotearoa is much more ready than any other country he can think of to face an omicron outbreak on a large scale.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘I see this as a strategic withdrawal’ – Strategic Covid-19 Public Health Advisory Group chair Sir David Skegg
• ‘From here they [cases] go up’ – Te Pūnaha Matatini principal investigator Dr Dion O’Neale
• Anti-vaccine mandate protests: Victoria University of Wellington supports police tactics
• Simon Wilson on the ‘fascists in our midst’
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

The experience of other countries has shown New Zealand that the country cannot beat omicron in the way it beat the original virus and to a large extent Delta, he said.

“I see this as a strategic withdrawal. It has been carefully planned. It shows that omicron is now getting the upper hand.”

He praised public health officials for their “Rolls-Royce” contact tracing but said there was now no choice except to move to phase two.

However, his greatest concern is the numbers who are still to get their booster shot, he told RNZ Morning Report.

Two doses ‘not adequate’
“I’m amazed that there’s more than a million New Zealanders who are eligible for the booster dose who have not yet taken up that opportunity. This is crazy.

“I think it’s time we stopped talking about people being fully vaccinated if they’ve only had two doses.”

The virus had mutated, Sir David said, and omicron was better at evading the vaccine immunity.

“So two doses of the vaccine doesn’t give adequate protection.”

He urged all those eligible to make an appointment or get it done today.

“No point having it in a few weeks after you’ve become sick.”

He referred to Denmark which has a similar population to New Zealand and is sometimes held up as a covid-19 success story.

He pointed out that it had seen 4000 deaths and was still having around 27 people die daily whereas Aotearoa’s total death toll in two years was 53.

Challenges face the country
“The next few months are going to be very challenging for this country. We are going to experience something of what those other countries had, so I think we all need to fasten our seat belts.

“It’s not just health although many of us will become sick and a considerable number will die. It’s also going to affect business, it’s going to affect social life and it’s going to affect education. The best thing people we can do right now is get boosted.”

He said people were tired of the pandemic but now was not the time to be considering removing restrictions.

While there was some fragmentation on the best way to deal with covid-19, there was also a consensus that New Zealanders did not want to see large numbers of people get seriously ill or die.

He said as an older person he would be doing his best to avoid getting the virus. He would be restricting his contact with other people while trying to live as normal a life as possible.

Pragmatic managing of omicron
Te Pūnaha Matatini principal investigator Dr Dion O’Neale says phase two is a pragmatic way to manage the growing omicron outbreak.

He told Morning Report that the high numbers of the last couple of days were pulling the country back in line with what the modelling had been predicting for a while.

“So we’ve seen overseas and we’d expect to see in New Zealand doubling times every three days. So that’s your trend.

“On top of that there will be little ups and downs … from here they go up.”

Dr O’Neal said the country had been able to slow down the spread of omicron, due mainly to the work of contact tracers. Their efforts had “put the brakes on” a growth of cases.

However, once case numbers got high there was not enough capacity to contact trace for every case and the spread would speed up, leading to the inevitable decision to move to phase two.

New system more online focused
“It’s an acknowledgement that with these high case numbers systems and processes they won’t have the capacity to deal with the large numbers and we need to try and change how we respond to covid.”

Until now, the contact tracing system has been very personal with contact names identified and these people are then rung and given advice.

The new system will be more online focused, with a text message with a positive result sent, and then the person will be asked to fill in an online form and the information is passed on.

O’Neal said it would be important for people to pass on information on possible exposures as quickly as possible, not waiting for official processes which might be slower as systems became stretched.

“Go home and take your children” — that was New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s plea yesterday to protesters remaining at Parliament.

Despite being trespassed from Parliament grounds a week ago, protesters remain on the Parliament lawn and show no sign of leaving in spite of a new record 981 community covid-19 cases yesterday.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

“Go home and take your children” — that was New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s plea to protesters remaining at Parliament today.

Despite being trespassed from Parliament grounds a week ago, protesters remain on the Parliament lawn and show no sign of leaving in spite of a new record 981 community covid-19 cases today.

There were about 3000 present over the weekend protesting over covid mandates and public health measures.

• READ MORE:  New Zealand to move to Phase 2 of omicron plan – PM Ardern
• Photo essay: Parliament grounds occupation
• Covid-19 update: Record 981 new community cases today
• Wellington’s Sky Stadium offered as parking to free up Parliament streets blocked by protesters
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

Ardern announced that New Zealand would move to Phase Two of the omicron plan at 11.59pm on February 15, when the period of home isolation reduces.

She said the increase in covid-19 cases was not unexpected and the country would stay in Phase Two as long as daily cases remained between 1000 and 5000 cases.

Earlier today, Ardern told RNZ Morning Report: “I think we all want [the protesters] to leave”.

“What’s become very clear is this is not any form of protest I’ve seen before and we’ve seen a lot, you know, and I think we’ve said time and time again, New Zealand is a place where protest is part of who we are.

“Some of our greatest movements have been born of people movements, many of which have entered the forecourt of Parliament.

“But what I’m seeing, it is some kind of imported form of protest.

‘Trump flags, Canadian flags’
“We’ve seen Trump flags, Canadian flags, people who are moving around the outskirts of the area with masks are being abused.

“Children and young people on their way to school are being abused. Businesses are seeing people occupy their spaces.

“This is beyond a protest.”

The Morning Report interview. Video: RNZ News

She did not believe the protest should continue and had specific concern for the children there, saying it was not an appropriate place for them.

“Do I believe that they should be there? No. Should they go home? Yes. Especially, especially the children.

Asked if it was time for an “olive branch” gesture or for politicians to meet and talk with protesters, Ardern said their actions did “not create a space where there’s any sense that they want dialogue”.

“What I have seen down on that forecourt does not suggest to me that this is a group that are interested in engaging in policy development.

Signs calling for ‘death of politicians’
“There are signs down there calling for the death of politicians.”

As for the management of the situation, that was for police, she said.

Police today were appealing to protesters to work with them to try to clear the streets of Wellington.

Wellington district commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell said they did not plan to wait the protesters out.

Police “ultimately need to be able to make all of those operational decisions,” Ardern said.

“It is absolutely for the police to determine how they manage any form of occupation or protests. And you can understand why that is a convention we will hold strongly to.

“I would hate to see in the future a situation where you have politicians seen to be instructing the police on how to manage any type of protest — and that extends to not passing judgment on operational decisions that are for them.”

Out-of-tune music tactics
Asked about tactics used by Parliament’s Speaker Trevor Mallard over the weekend — out-of-tune music and Covid-19 vaccination ads being played to protesters — Ardern said: “I would also enforce the difference in our different roles here, the Speaker exists on behalf of all parliamentarians.

“His job is to, of course, maintain a safe place to work. Right now it is a very difficult place for people to enter and the one piece of context I’ll just give is that it has not been a silent protest.

“What I’ve heard are clear anti-vaccination messages that do not align with the vast majority of New Zealanders.

“Media, when they’ve stepped onto the forecourt, have been abused and chased and called liars.

“So some of the rhetoric and noise coming from the protest has been pretty poor.”

A discussion on Mallard’s tactics was “not a fray” Ardern wanted get into, she said.

Other covid control tools being used
As for covid-19 restrictions, Ardern said “we’ve only used what’s been necessary. That’s why we’re not using lockdowns anymore — because we now have other tools that means we don’t need to use those harsher form of measures, and we will continue to move away from them.

“But when we’re in the middle of a growing pandemic, that is not the time to move away from those things that keep us safe…

“When it comes to everything from the use of vaccine passes to the use of mandates, you’ve seen with other countries that they have been in the position to start lessening the use of those as they progress through the pandemic and got to a place where you see more stabilisation and a steady management within the health system.

“That is what we would move to as well. It is fairly difficult to put timelines or criteria on that when of course we are dealing with different variants that can come anytime.

“[I am] always loath to set up a situation you then can’t follow through on because of a changing situation, so instead I give the principle: As soon as we can move away, we will move away.

“We’ve done that with lockdowns. We’re opening the borders, we are easing restrictions that have been quite impactful for everyday lives.

“But right now, the ones we still have are going to help us get through omicron.”

981 new community cases
The Ministry of Health reports that there are 981 new community cases of covid-19 in New Zealand today.

In a statement, the ministry said the new cases were in Northland (21), Auckland (768), Waikato (82), Bay of Plenty (23), Lakes (12), Hawke’s Bay (5), MidCentral (5), Taranaki (1), Tairāwhiti (6), Wellington (6), Hutt Valley (14), Wairarapa (12), Nelson Marlborough (2), Canterbury (4), South Canterbury (1) and Southern (19).

“Once again, the further increase in new cases today is another reminder that, as expected, the highly transmissible omicron variant is now spreading in our communities as we have seen in other countries,” the ministry said.

Thirty-nine people with covid-19 are in hospitals in Whangārei, Auckland, Waikato, Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch — however, none in ICU or HDU.

The average age of hospitalisations is 55.

At the border, there are 25 new covid-19 cases — eight of which are historical. The cases at the border are from India, Malaysia and 14 of them are unknown.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Police say misinformation and a “range of different causes and motivations” are making it difficult to resolve the situation with protesters at New Zealand’s Parliament.

In a statement this afternoon, Wellington District Commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell said police were continuing to monitor the protest activity at Parliament grounds as new community cases of covid-19 in the current omicron outbreak reached a record 446.

“Police have identified a range of different causes and motivations among the protesters, making it difficult to open clear and meaningful lines of communication.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 outbreak: NZ police brace for fourth day of protest at Parliament
• Covid-19 update: record 446 new community cases in New Zealand today
• Lloyd Jones: Letter to the protesters occupying Parliament grounds
• Covid-19: Government celebrates 10 million vaccines administered
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

“Misinformation, particularly on social media, has been identified as an issue.”

Superintendent Parnell said some of the protesters were “actively promoting false advice” about people’s rights and the powers that police have.

“For example, the use of a particular word or phrase by an individual will not impact the arrest of anyone involved in unlawful activity,” he said.

“Under the Policing Act 2008, anyone arrested and taken into police custody is required to provide their name, age, date of birth and address. They must also let police take their photograph and fingerprints.

“It is an offence not to comply with these requests.”

Superintendent Parnell did note that several officers were seen carrying batons earlier today, but that was not in line with the current approach and they have now been removed.

“Police continue to explore options to resolve the disruption to local businesses and allow free and safe movement around the city.”

RNZ Checkpoint reports

Police detail response to the protest outside Parliament. Video: RNZ News

10 million covid-19 vaccinations in NZ
The government is celebrating a milestone of 10 million covid-19 vaccines administered.

In a statement this afternoon, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the uptake of vaccines had been helped by a surge in boosters, and a healthy uptake of paediatric doses in 5- to 11-year-olds.

He said the 10 millionth vaccine had been reached about 2pm today.

“It’s the people of New Zealand who have embraced the science and put their trust in the health system who deserve the biggest accolade. They should take a bow, and then take a breath and continue to encourage others to get vaccinated,” he said.

“A strong booster uptake in all our communities is our best defence against the omicron variant. Being fully vaccinated is great, being boosted is even better.”

The record 446 new cases of covid-19 recorded in the community today followed another record of 306 the previous day.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

As workers on the ground running ourselves into the ground, it’s quite disheartening to read all the reactionary criticism of MIQ, the managed isolation and quarantine system which has saved thousands of lives in New Zealand.

It’s easy not to appreciate what it has achieved, given it has prevented something awful from happening, and only see the restrictions and disadvantages it has necessarily caused by its existence.

Also, most of the people who have been spared from severe illness are not the ones who are complaining.

• READ MORE: Other reports on NZ’s response to covid-19
• 120 protesters at NZ’s Parliament arrested as tension grows on third day

I am so impressed with the small and dedicated MIQ teams I have worked with — a throw-together of excellent nurses, health care assistants, well-being coordinators, security, hotel staff, police and the impressive NZ Defence Force.

These people are gold and the cornerstone of preventing a certain healthcare system crisis.

They have retained great professionalism in the face of numerous extremely challenging guests and logistics around dealing with covid positive cases while keeping them as happy as can be in a confined space.

Currently we are full of overseas border returnees from all over the world, many angry at being in isolation and taking it out on our staff, to the point where absenteeism is common and job satisfaction has dipped hugely.

Staggering towards MIQ end
We are all staggering towards the end of the MIQ system, rather punch drunk and weary.

Our staff currently receive relentless angry calls from guests who don’t get what they want immediately, currently often the investigation of potential historical covid status (of which there are dozens presently), more than one expressing “there will be blood on the walls” if their immediate demands are not met.

I can understand why to a degree — they are stuck in a room and can’t see the huge amount of work going on behind the scenes, with teams putting in long tiring days, well over their paid hours, but unfortunately it also brings out the worst in some people of certain personality types and those with mental health issues.

Also I must add that a majority of people are able to “just get on with it” and do the time, something most of us would find tedious.

There is a financial cost to saving lives in any area of healthcare and now it has been deemed the harms of MIQ outweigh the benefits, rightly in my and most people’s opinion, as covid spreads in the community and borders open up.

If only we could have the same political will and public acceptance that we have had for lockdown and vaccination programme to put preventative health measures and laws to address the two other huge elephants in the room, our chronic disease epidemic and environmental crises.

Firm beneficial health laws
We could reduce our health spending by orders of magnitude while greatly improving health if we had some firm laws for clearly beneficial proposals such as sugar and fat taxes, and the marketing of harmful, processed foods and alcohol, especially at our children.

We could equally slash our carbon emissions whilst raising health outcomes with the promotion of a plant based type of diet, as per the current international public health consensus.

We just need to be brave, follow the science and not give in to the numerous interest group detractors. Our world beating covid response has shown we can do it.

Let’s keep the momentum up and not go back to our pre-covid slumber.

Dr Mark Craig is an Auckland-based lifestyle medicine doctor working in managed isolation and quarantine facilities. This article was first published in the New Zealand Herald and is republished here with the author’s permission.

Several hundred more cases of covid in Solomon Islands … Kiribati records first covid death …nearly 12,000 in isolation in New Caledonia … French Polynesia records first covid death in nearly four months … Federated States of Micronesia calls a halt to flights from neighbouring Guam … a partial border re-opening in the Northern Marianas … and Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape says he is “doing well” while self-isolating at home from a covid-19 infection.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific health reports

Several hundred more cases of covid in Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands recorded another 349 cases of covid 19 in the 24 hours to yesterday morning.

Health Minister Culwick Togamana said this took the number of people contracting the virus since the outbreak began last month to 3667.

He said the majority of the most recent cases had been recorded in Honiara where he said there was now very high community transmission.

Kiribati records first covid death
Kiribati has announced its first covid-19 death and 207 new cases in the community.

There are now almost 2000 positive infections, with more than 50 percent of those recorded in the last five days.

The Ministry of Health said the victim was an 80-year-old woman who had been hospitalised at an isolation centre.

The ministry said the woman had only received the first dose of her covid-19 vaccination.

Another woman, who is over 60-years-old, has been admitted and is being monitored at the Bikenibeu Isolation Centre.

The government is advising people to “take extra care and look after their elderly parents and relatives.”

Nearly 12,000 in isolation in New Caledonia
New Caledonia has recorded a further 2343 covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the number of active cases to nearly 12,000.

38 people are now in hospital, including two in intensive care.

The spread of the omicron variant started a month ago and is yet to peak.

Sixty six percent of the population is vaccinated.

Since September, there have been more than 30,000 recorded infections.

French Polynesia records first covid death in four months
French Polynesia has recorded 1058 new cases of covid-19 over the last 72 hours taking the total to 2974.

One death has been recorded — the first since October, taking the death toll to 637.

More than a third of the covid-19 cases are the omicron variant.

Four people are in hospital and one person in ICU.

The proportion of the population vaccinated is 78.6 percent.

FSM halts incoming repatriation flights
The Federated States of Micronesia has indefinitely stopped all incoming repatriation flights from Guam.

FSM’s Covid-19 Taskforce said the move was in response to the high number of coronavirus infections in the US Territory.

In a statement, the taskforce said it was essential for FSM to improve its vaccination rates before restarting flights to bring back citizens stranded in its neighbouring Guam.

The government said it would provide assistance for citizens who are stuck in Guam, but not provide further details at this stage.

Covid-19 vaccines are mandatory on the islands of FSM — meaning all citizens residing in the FSM must be vaccinated.

FSM’s public health emergency has been extended until the end of May.

Partial border reopening in the CNMI
The Northern Marianas has reopened its borders for fully vaccinated people.

The changes to the border protocols were made possible with 99 percent of CNMI’s eligible population now fully vaccinated, and 53 percent having had booster shots.

CNMI’s Covid-19 Taskforce said all travellers entering the territory by air or sea would no longer be tested on arrival.

Unvaccinated travellers, however, will be required to quarantine at home and get tested at a community based testing site five days after arrival.

All visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands will also need to complete a mandatory health declaration and upload their vaccination status.

Authorities say the health and safety of residents remain the top priority of the government.

The CNMI has recorded more than 6300 cases and 23 deaths.

PNG leader ‘doing well’ in covid recovery
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape says he is “alright” and “doing well” as he self-isolates at home from a Covid-19 infection.

Marape had to cut short his visit to China after he tested positive for coronavirus in Beijing last week.

In a statement yesterday, Marape said “there is nothing seriously wrong with me” and that “vaccination has really helped”.

He said he would be taking a second covid-19 test tomorrow and depending on results would provide an update on Friday on when he would resume his responsibilities.

His deputy Sam Basil is acting prime minister while Marape recovers.

The prime minister is urging fellow PNG citizens to get vaccinated.

PNG has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the world, with less than 3 percent of the population covered.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

After a record number of covid-19 cases were reported on Saturday, New Zealand’s prime minister believes the country’s omicron peak may be in late March.

The number of omicron cases in New Zealand has not yet reached the number predicted by modellers.

However, New Zealand recorded its largest ever one-day case number with 243 cases on Saturday. On Sunday the cases dropped to 208 and on Monday, there were 188 new cases.

• READ MORE: Other NZ covid outbreak reports

But with the long weekend came lower testing rates. Fewer than 13,000 people were swabbed for covid-19 on Sunday, at least 5000 down on the most recent weekdays.

Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker believed the daily case numbers may not reflect the true extent of community spread.

Omicron only became a variant of concern at the end of November 2021, it was still very difficult to predict its behaviour, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told RNZ Morning Report.

“While there’s uncertainty in case numbers, if you looked at low case profiles in a place like say South Australia and you applied that to New Zealand, you would have something like 10,000 cases a day at its peak.”

High scenario
A high scenario like in New York would mean 30,000 cases a day, she said.

“It’s widely variable and ultimately the defining feature of where we will peak will be booster uptake. The more people who take a booster, the lower the likelihood of our peak.”

Ardern believes New Zealand’s omicron peak may be in late March.

Asked if she regretted not prioritising Māori in the vaccine rollout, Ardern said everything they learnt in the first rollout, they were applying to every vaccine rollout since.

She said the government has worked really closely with Māori on the rollout of paediatric and booster campaigns.

“On the first rollout, we didn’t have the supply to rollout to everyone and so we took an approach that said a whānau-based approach but also one based on those who were at the highest risk.

“And look, I stand by that, but again, as I say, every stage we’ve learnt lessons.”

90% Māori vaccinated
Ninety percent of Māori have now have at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, in the first Newshub-Reid research poll released last night, Labour and National both saw their popularity increase.

Labour is on 44.3 percent, up 1.6 percentage points and National on 31.3 percent, up 4.4 percentage points.

Ardern said she would not pin Labour’s results on any one thing.

“Ultimately this is again, support for the plan we have and that has been a plan always based on making decisions that are in the best interest for New Zealanders, their health, their wellbeing and our economy,” she said.

“We are in a phase now of shifting up the way that we’re approaching the pandemic, moving to reopen, greater freedoms … and I think we see people are generally supportive of that plan.”

Anti-vaccine convoy to Parliament
A convoy of people protesting against the government’s covid-19 protection measures was expected to arrive in Wellington today.

Ardern told Morning Report she would not be meeting protesters at Parliament.

Lockdowns meant people sacrificed some of their usual rights and abilities to keep others safe, she said.

“Of course New Zealanders all through this pandemic have given up something but in order to gain the health and wellbeing of all communities and it’s worked.”

She said now people were living with fewer restrictions than earlier in the pandemic.

The protest came at a time when the government was changing the way it was doing things because of the extra protection vaccines provide, she said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A public health expert is urging New Zealanders to keep up the testing momentum, as testing rates take a dive over the long weekend.

Fewer than 13,000 people were swabbed for covid-19 in the past day, at least 5000 down on the most recent week days.

University of Otago senior lecturer Dr Lesley Gray is encouraging anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms, no matter how mild, to get tested for covid-19.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 188 new community cases, 27 in MIQ
• New Zealand posts record 243 new daily covid cases in community

“We know that for those people that will get symptoms, it may start as simple as sneezing, a scratchy throat, a bit of a runny nose as if it were a run-of-the-mill cold,” she said.

“So, if you do get any of those symptoms, especially a scratchy throat, please do go forward and see if you can get tested.”

Gray said anyone who is feeling well should make a habit of regularly checking the Ministry of Health’s locations of interest, to see if they have been exposed to the virus

“It could be that if people are acquiring omicron, assuming there are more cases in the community, then we’ve got to accept that some people will not actually have any symptoms.

“So unless they identify that they may have been at a location of interest, or that they may be a close contact, they may be completely oblivious to the fact that they may also have covid-19.”

188 new community cases
The Ministry of Health reported 188 new community cases of covid-19 today — 20 fewer than yesterday.

It is the second day in a row that case numbers have fallen from Saturday’s record high of 243 infections.

Several new locations of interests have been added to the Ministry of Health’s website, including Air New Zealand flights, a Wellington restaurant, a Taupō cafe and a mosque in Hamilton.

Gray said it was important New Zealanders kept up the public health measures that had served the country well throughout the outbreak, such as masking, physical distancing, keeping a record of movements and staying home if unwell.

“If people identify their symptoms early, then take the steps to see if they’re a positive case, it makes a huge difference. We’ve all got families and nobody wants to be transmitting this to other family members, especially our young tamariki.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Caledonia’s covid-19 outbreak continues to spread with almost 10,000 active cases.

This includes 1289 new infections detected over the preceding 24 hours.

Twenty five people are in hospital as the authorities have reopened some hotel facilities as temporary care centres.

• READ MORE: Other New Caledonia covid reports

About 67 percent of the total population of 272,000 is fully vaccinated.

Last week, Paris declared a health emergency in New Caledonia but the French High Commission in Noumea decided against imposing another lockdown.

Some restrictions were introduced after last month’s detection of the omicron variant, limiting the size of meetings and upholding mask wearing obligation.

Protest over masks in schools
Defying the policy, hundreds of people demonstrated on Saturday to show their opposition to mask wearing obligations in schools.

Since last Tuesday, antigen tests are no longer free but cost a minimum $US27.

The change upset some traditional leaders in the Loyalty Islands, who then demanded the suspension of the health pass, needed to board flights.

The dispute briefly closed the airport on Lifou, and tests for flights to and from Noumea are now free again.

In September, the territory’s Congress passed a law making vaccinations mandatory, but its application has been repeatedly deferred and is now not expected to be enforced before the end of the month.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A team of four experts from China have arrived in Honiara for on-site feasibility studies on two projects amid the surging case of covid-19 in the Solomon Islands.

The experts are here at the invitation of the government for studies on the upgrading of the national referral hospital and a new water plant.

They have arrived as Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare made a national address at the weekend saying there were now 2790 cases of infection in the country.

• READ MORE: Solomon Islanders warned worse to come as covid soars
• Tonga extends lockdown as covid cases rise to 7

Sogavare said this was within 20 days of the country’s first case of domestic transmission of the virus, reports RNZ Pacific.

He said that on Friday alone, health officials had identified 430 cases.

Sogavare put the official death toll at 32 but other deaths are believed to have occurred at home.

The prime minister said all but three provinces have reported cases, and transmission was now widespread in the capital, Honiara.

Many of the local lockdowns that had been in place has been lifted but a curfew from 6pm to 6am will still be enforced.

Movement out of Honiara is not allowed.

The prime minister has repreated calls for people to get vaccinated.

Boost for bilateral relationship
The arriving Chinese expert team said in a statement: “Hopefully our arrival can help Solomon Islands strengthen infrastructure construction, improve medical conditions and livelihood, and boost development of bilateral relationship.”

The team, which has strictly complied with Solomon Islands’ quarantine procedures, said its arrival, work and persistence would promote the country’s anti-pandemic work and improve the public medical environment and infrastructure.

In the spirit of “Umi togeta against covid-19”, the team vowed to deliver its best in the fight against the pandemic in Solomon Islands.

“Our team will stand firmly with our friends in Solomon Islands, defy difficulties and dangers, work hard, and build a modern diagnosis and treatment place with advanced technologies for Solomon Islands with the latest construction technologies in the foreseeable future,” the team added.

Robert Iroga is editor of SB Online. Republished with permission.

New Zealand has recorded its highest number of community cases in one day, with 243 new cases reported today.

The previous highest number of cases reported in one day was 222 during the delta outbreak in November.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said the continued increase in cases today was “a reminder that, as expected, the omicron variant is spreading in our communities as we have seen in other countries”.

• READ MORE: NZ deserves far more respect for keeping covid deaths so low – Peter Davis

The ministry said getting a booster dose as soon as it was due was one of the best steps to take.

“Boosters lower your chances of getting very sick and being hospitalised. Being boosted also helps slow the spread of the virus. If you’re over 18 and your booster is due, please get it now.”

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today’s record numbers were expected and would continue to grow in the coming days and weeks

“I urge people not to panic but to plan for that,” he said.

‘Get your booster’
“The best thing you can do to prevent illness is to get vaccinated, and get your booster. Wear a mask when you’re around others, cough into your elbow and wash your hands regularly.”

It was a record day for boosters yesterday, with 66,864 booster doses given. There were also 876 first doses, 1780 second doses and 4440 paediatric doses given.

There are 10 people in hospital with covid-19, including one in ICU. Two are in Rotorua and one in Christchurch, with the rest in Auckland hospitals.

Today’s new community cases were in Northland (21), Auckland (165), Waikato (34), Rotorua (1), Bay of Plenty (8), Tairāwhiti (2), Hawke’s Bay (6), Nelson/Marlborough (3), Whanganui (1), and Wellington (2).

The 21 new cases in Northland include 14 cases in Kerikeri, two cases in Kaeo, one case in Kaikohe, three cases in Whangārei, and one case in Taipa Bay-Mangōnui.

Less than half of the 34 cases in Waikato today are linked to previously reported cases. Nineteen of the cases are in Hamilton, five in Ohaupo, two in Te Kuiti, two in Ngāruawāhia, one in Tirau, and the remaining with locations under investigation.

Both of the Wellington cases are under investigation for links to previous cases, but a JetStar flight between Wellington and Auckland on January 29 has been added as a location of interest. More details are available on the ministry’s location of interest page.

There were also 26 cases reported at the border today, with travellers arriving from Singapore, Australia, UK, India, Egypt, Lebanon, UAE and Ireland.

There were 209 community cases reported yesterday, along with a further 64 cases at the border.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

With the arrival of the omicron variant on our shores, it is hard to believe, judging by the media coverage — particularly on MIQ, that the Aotearoa New Zealand government has got anything right in its pandemic response.

One important feature that has been missed in the debate on New Zealand’s pandemic response to date, however, is our very low death rate. At under 60, it is 0.5 percent of the rate in the United Kingdom – approximately 10 per million, compared with more than 2000 per million in the United Kingdom.

This is a very important metric that has been given too little regard here and overseas. The number of people dying of covid-19 in the UK is well over 150,000. This figure is confirmed by the data on excess deaths estimated against the long-run average; the two numbers closely correspond.

• READ MORE: Covid global death toll tops 5 million in under two years
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

This figure is just under half the number of British troops killed in World War II. And this in two years of a pandemic, compared with the six years of that conflict.

In other words, the deaths wrought by covid are on a scale comparable with a major outbreak of warfare. And yet too many commentators and decision-makers have become inured to this death toll, concentrating instead on the performance of the health system and the enjoyment of individual freedoms.

If we had suffered the same rate of covid deaths as the UK has, that would make the number of deaths not 50-60 but 10,000, not far short of the number of New Zealanders dying in World War II (just under 12,000).

The scale of death — or the potential for death — therefore needs to feature more prominently in the coverage of the politics of the pandemic.

‘Let the bodies pile high’​
For example, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to have stated that he would prefer to “let the bodies pile high”​ rather than pursue another lockdown.

True or not, that reported statement had almost no impact on his popularity compared to stories of his attending parties at Downing Street when the UK was under firm restrictions on gatherings.

This blind spot in the media coverage and cultural resonance of the pandemic came home to me when a columnist in the left-of-centre publication New Statesman pointed out that, pre-omicron, her friends in Australia didn’t know a single person with the virus, and yet their state and federal governments at that time were pursuing far stronger public health measures than were being applied the UK.

The same could have been said of New Zealand since the two countries have followed similar policies.

Yes, most Australians — and New Zealanders — pre-Omicron were unlikely to know anybody with the virus; but neither were they likely to know anybody who had died of it, which is in many respects a far more important metric both ethically and politically.

Arguably, New Zealand — like Australia — is a more communitarian country, with “two degrees of separation” and all that. Thus, it might matter that bit more to us whether or not our neighbour, friend, or relative dies of a pandemic disease.

In larger, more anonymous societies there is less proximity to death.

Pictures of morgues
At present anyway, pictures of morgues piled high with the dead from the pandemic would be socially unacceptable in our culture. Added to this is the special place of Māori, who could suffer disproportionately with a premature opening of our borders.

This is something that Grounded Kiwis, the expatriate New Zealanders’ group pushing the legal case against the government, may have missed. If it forces the hand of the government to open our borders before we have been able to achieve acceptable levels of both vaccination and infection protection — such as masking, ventilation, distancing, and self-testing against the onslaught of omicron – then the consequences may also be an increase in the likely death rate in New Zealand.

For example, New South Wales at the peak of its omicron outbreak recorded rather more deaths in a single day than New Zealand had recorded over the near-two years of the pandemic, despite the supposedly milder and less impactful character of this variant.

Is that really what we want?

It is also as well to remember our responsibility to all vulnerable populations, including the elderly, Māori and Pasifika, and all those with relevant underlying health conditions. These groups have suffered disproportionately in the pandemic so far.

Few of us have experienced over a short time and in a proximate way significant numbers of deaths in our circles. Half a century ago, it was more common for people to die at home, often surrounded by family, but this has become much less so.

These days it is more likely to be professionally and medically managed, with much of our experience of death otherwise coming packaged via mass and social media.

The government — and New Zealanders — have done well to keep pandemic death at bay. This is not to justify draconian measures without considered trade-offs against wider societal costs and benefits.

But it is to argue for a more balanced discussion of our pandemic response, and to show greater respect for the more communitarian style of it.

Dr Peter Davis is an elected member of the Auckland District Health Board, and emeritus professor in population health and social science at the University of Auckland. His article was first published at Stuff and is republished on Asia Pacific Report with permission.

Māori health providers in Aotearoa New Zealand are holding back on covid-19 vaccinations for children in the face of growing anti-vaxxer protest in the wider Whanganui region.

That is despite the area recording the second-lowest rate in the country of vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 years.

Iwi collective Te Ranga Tupua says one of its mobile vaccination clinics was egged in the Whanganui suburb of Aramoho on Wednesday and anti-vaxxer activity has been ramping up since children became eligible for vaccination.

• READ MORE: Other Local Democracy Reporting stories at Asia Pacific Report
• Other NZ covid-19 reports

According to the Ministry of Health, as of Wednesday only 1600 (24 percent) of 6600 eligible children in the Whanganui District Health Board area have had their first shot.

The rate for tamariki Māori is even worse, with only 400 (15 percent) of Māori aged between 5 and 11 years getting their first vaccination.

The Whanganui District Health Board area includes parts of Rangitīkei and the Waimarino/Ruapehu district.

Te Ranga Tupua rapid response vaccination co-lead Elijah Pue said anti-vaxxers are now targeting the iwi collective’s mobile teams daily with the message “hands off our tamariki”.

Ramped up the rhetoric
“The anti-vax community have ramped up the rhetoric. It is a health and safety issue for our staff and our frontline teams.”

The iwi collective did not want to bring in security, preferring instead to encourage kōrero, he said.

Te Ranga Tupua is midway through a 15-week effort to lift Māori vaccination rates in Whanganui, Rangitīkei, South Taranaki and the Waimarino.

Pue said the iwi collective was taking the time to engage with parents who had questions or were hesitant before it launched a region-wide child vaccination rollout on 14 February.

About 120 parents participated in an online information session with Covid-19 experts last week. Pue said Te Ranga Tupua would continue to take a cautious approach and had more information sessions for parents planned next week.

The Whanganui DHB vaccination uptake for both Māori and non-Māori children is the second lowest in the country, with only Northland recording lower numbers.

Spokesperson Louise Allsopp said the DHB was encouraging whānau to talk with their trusted healthcare providers to work through any concerns about vaccinating their 5 to 11-year-olds.

“We are also ensuring existing providers are supported to start vaccinating children when they are ready,” Allsopp said.

Right information for whānau
“The key things are that people have the right information to make their decision for their whānau, then [that] vaccinations are available from the right people at the right time. There has been a focus from Māori providers on getting accurate information out there before they start vaccinating.”

The public health team was providing support to local school principals around Covid-19 protection measures, including wearing masks at school. The DHB was also supporting additional providers to start delivering covid-19 vaccinations for both adults and children, Allsopp said.

Covid-19 Māori health analyst Rāwiri Taonui said tamariki Māori vaccination numbers throughout the country were concerning and had to be lifted urgently before the omicron variant took hold.

“There’s an impression that omicron causes milder disease and that’s true but the scale of cases is so large that even a small percentage of severe illnesses is quite a serious situation.”

Taonui said MOH data showed 18 percent of tamariki Māori (5-11s) nationwide had their first vaccination compared to 33 percent for all ethnicities. But the gap was much wider due to an undercount of more than 12,000 in the index the MOH used to count vaccinations and the estimated number of tamariki Māori, he said.

“That gap is closer to 25 or 26 percent. A more accurate calculation of the tamariki vaccination is 16.1 percent for Māori compared to 40.9 percent for non-Māori/Pacific.”

Taonui was calling on the government to cut the wait time between first and second child vaccinations from eight weeks to three, and to prioritise the tamariki Māori vaccination rollout to avoid repeating the inequities of the national vaccination programme to date.

Targeting low-decile schools
“This includes targeting low-decile schools with large Māori enrolments,” Taonui said.

“At the moment Māori cases are very low. But at some point there’s going to be a vector by which Omicron begins to make its way into our community and that is likely to come when our children go back to school and begin mixing with kids from other communities and take the virus home.”

The MOH had to release tamariki Māori data to the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency and other Māori health providers to help them quickly locate children who had yet to be vaccinated, he said.

Delays in child vaccinations now would carry through to second vaccinations. With the current eight-week wait time between vaccinations, a child vaccinated today would not be fully protected until April – well after Omicron has taken hold in the country.

“That’s a real concern. We could get caught out really quite badly,” Taonui said.

“We are starting to see numbers overseas, for instance in the United States and amongst other indigenous groups, where there’s a lot of children getting ill and child hospitalisations are increasing.

“We’re already in a situation where by mid-January tamariki Māori were 53 percent of all under-12 infection and 63 percent of all hospitalisation. If we don’t get the tamariki vaccination rollout right, those numbers could become even worse.”

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Published by Asia Pacific Report in collaboration.

New Zealanders in Australia will be able to return home by the end of the month under a five-stage reopening plan announced by the government today.

The first stages of the plan would see returning vaccinated New Zealanders able to go into self-isolation and taking a test on arrival, rather than going into managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed the plan in a speech to Business New Zealand this morning, in which she defended the government’s use of MIQ and pledged there would be “life after covid”.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 147 new community cases reported in New Zealand today

“It’s easy to hear the word MIQ and immediately associate it with heartache. There is no question that for New Zealand it has been one of the hardest parts of the pandemic,” she said.

“But the choice to use it undeniably saved lives … MIQ meant not everyone could come home when they wanted to but it also meant that covid could not come in when it wanted to, either.”

The five stages:

• 11.59pm 27 February: Self-isolation opens for New Zealanders and eligible travellers coming from Australia
• 11.59pm 13 March: Open to New Zealanders and eligible travellers from the rest of the world; skilled workers earning at least 1.5x median wage; working holiday visas
• 11.59pm 12 April: Offshore temporary visa holders who still meet visa requirements; 5000 international students; consideration of further class exemptions for critical workforces that do not meet the 1.5x median wage test
• By July: Anyone from Australia; visa-waiver travel; a new Accredited Employer Work Visa opens and skilled worker exemption is phased out
• In October: Border reopens to the rest of the world, all visa categories fully reopen

Unvaccinated travellers would still go into MIQ, but with less demand the Defence Force would begin withdrawing and some facilities would return to being hotels. A core quarantine capacity would be maintained and scaled up, to become a National Quarantine Service.

Self-isolation period
The self-isolation period for returning travellers would match that for close contacts under the government’s phased approach to Omicron: 10 days under phase one, seven days under phase two and three.

All arrivals will be given three rapid antigen tests, returning results on day 0/1 and on day 5/6, with one extra test. Positive results will be confirmed with a PCR test.

Ardern said the tools used to help battle the health crisis had not stayed the same, and while some may feel anxious about the reopening plan, the isolation, testing and high vaccination rates would help keep the virus from spreading too quickly.

The shorter three-month interval between second and booster dose announced yesterday would mean more people were boosted by the time the first stage hit.

Ardern said the government would be continually monitoring the value of self-isolation, and it was possible it may not be needed in the “not too distant future”.

She also confirmed she would lead trade delegations this year to Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe.

‘New Zealand is in demand’
“New Zealand is in demand. Our exports are at record highs, people want to live and work here, international students want to study here, our friends and whānau want to return,” she said.

“Covid laid bare our unsustainable reliance on temporary migrant labour. Immigration will continue to be a part of our economic story, but we have the opportunity now to build resilience into our workforces while also attracting the skills and talent we need.

“We have a chance to do things differently.”

“I hear much talk of a return to business as usual but we are better than business as usual … we must now carve our own recovery. On our terms.”

“We are vaccinated, increasingly boosted, and continue to prepare ourselves at home and work with a plan – and so now it is time to move forward together, safely.”

The critical worker border exemptions under Step 1 of the border reopening would cover:

• Critical health workers
• Dairy farm managers and assistants
• Shearers and wool handlers
• Deepwater fishing crew
• Rural contractors
• Veterinarians
• Teachers
• International students
• Major infrastructure projects
• Tech sector workers
• External auditors
• Government-approved events and programmes
• Other short- and long-term ‘critical workers’

147 new community cases – 13 in hospital
The Ministry of Health reported today there were 147 new cases of covid-19 in the community and 44 at the border. Omicron is already the dominant strain.

In a statement, the ministry said the new community cases were in Northland (14), Auckland (90), Waikato (15), Rotorua (8), Taupō (1), Bay of Plenty (8), Hawke’s Bay (7) and Wellington (4).

A person admitted to Wellington Hospital has tested positive for covid-19, Capital and Coast DHB confirmed this morning. The ministry said there were another 12 people in hospital in Auckland, Rotorua and Hawke’s Bay.

There are no people in intensive care.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand is shortening the gap between second and third doses of the covid-19 vaccine from four months to three, the government has announced.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield made the announcement this afternoon.

Ardern said Cabinet made the decision on the advice of the Vaccine Technical Advisory Group, and it would mean a million more New Zealanders would be eligible for their booster shot.

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The shorter interval, which only applies to the Pfizer vaccine, will take effect on Friday,  February 4.

“It now means a total of 3,063,823 people aged 18 and over — two thirds of our population — will be eligible for their booster from this weekend. Over 1.3 million people have already got theirs,” Hipkins said.

The change would mean more people, especially Māori, would be able to receive a booster before omicron took hold, he said, urging anyone who was eligible to get their booster as soon as possible.

Ardern said an extra 100,000 Māori will be eligible for a booster, representing a 59 percent increase in Māori eligibility from Friday, while an additional 52,000 Pacific people will be eligible, representing a 47 percent increase.

Ardern said the reason for getting the booster was clear — Omicron was usually more mild, but it could be severe for some.

“So don’t think getting a booster is just about keeping yourself safe, it’s about ensuring our hospital and health system is not overwhelmed so those you love and everyone in our community who needs our hospitals can get the care they need,” she said.

Watch the government announcement:

Today’s media conference.Video: RNZ News

Hipkins said New Zealand was one of the top-10 most vaccinated countries in the OECD, and the earlier booster would also help reduce the impacts of omicron on workforces and supply chains.

“We have given ourselves a head start that we cannot afford to give up,” he said.

People can check their eligibility on MyCovidRecord, by referring to their vaccine appointment card, or calling 0800 28 29 26 between 8am and 8pm seven days a week.

Ardern said today that 94 percent of New Zealanders over the age of 12 were fully vaccinated.

“A year ago, achieving that level of community immunity would have been considered incredibly ambitious, but the overwhelming majority of the team of five million have done what they’ve done best this entire pandemic, banded together and turned out to get vaccinated not just for themselves but to keep their loved ones and communities safe.”

The high rates had helped stop a delta outbreak and given New Zealand a head start against omicron, but now the number boosted needed to get as high as possible, she said.

The government would create a big booster campaign during February, with details to be provided by the Ministry of Health next week, Ardern said.

Significant boost in funding
Dr Bloomfield acknowledged the work put in by vaccination teams across the country in achieving 94 percent vaccination. Māori vaccination rates were now up to 90 percent first dose and 85 percent second dose, he said.

Ardern said there had been a significant boost in funding for community organisations which was helping support the efforts to help vaccinate Māori around the country.

“What we’ve had to do is make sure that we’ve stood up a system that worked for delta, now we need to make sure that we are able to expand to deal with what will be a larger number of cases but actually the majority of cases won’t need the level of care that delta may have required. So that has been an ongoing programme of work with our Māori providers,” she said.

Dr Bloomfield said the impact of waning protection over time from the vaccine had been seen.

“The good news is that there is clear evidence with that booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine, that people’s protection goes back up to a similar level to what it was for delta with two doses, and that is well over 90 percent protection against hospitalisation or serious illness.”

He urged everyone to make a plan, and said there was excellent capacity for vaccinations across the system.

“While we can’t administer boosters to everyone in that one million this Friday, I can assure you we have excellent capacity across our system and we certainly have a good supply of vaccine.”

Important for vulnerable people
It was even more important for vulnerable people and those working in higher-risk settings to get the booster, and considerable work was under way to make boosters as available as possible to those people, Dr Bloomfield said.

New Zealand data so far was similar to that overseas — we had not seen an increase in side effects, and overall adverse events after each additional vaccination had declined, he said.

He had asked for advice on when 12 to 17-year-olds would be able to get booster doses.

Ardern said the reason behind the delay until Friday was the government needed to make sure all the infrastructure was stood up.

New Zealand was still relatively early on in its omicron outbreak compared to other countries, and there was still time for people to get their booster in the coming week and have the benefit of it before the variant spread widely, she said.

Dr Bloomfield said New Zealand was an early mover in reducing the booster interval from six months to four, and was moving to reduce the interval again to three months before the omicron outbreak, which was something many other countries did not have the opportunity to do.

Ministry of Health Chief Science Adviser Ian Town said bringing it forward to three months, which had been done in the UK and in many Australian states, meant New Zealand could get the level of antibodies at a peak before it was facing widespread transmission.

No downside
There did not appear to be any downside to reducing the interval to three months, he said.

Dr Bloomfield said he wanted to emphasise that the evidence was clear that while two doses was great for delta, that was not the case with omicron, “so we will be pushing really hard to vaccinate”.

There were 142 community cases of covid-19 and 54 border cases reported in New Zealand today. There were 38,332 booster doses given yesterday.

This morning, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson defended the government’s approach to pregnant journalist Charlotte Bellis’ emergency MIQ requests, and its acquisition of rapid antigen tests (RATs) ahead of an expected rapid increase in Omicron variant cases across New Zealand.

National has been calling for borders to reopen immediately, and frequent RAT testing in schools.

Cabinet yesterday discussed its plans for reopening the borders, and Prime Minister Ardern is expected to make announcements about that tomorrow. A staged timeline was outlined late last year, but was quickly delayed because of the risks posed by omicron.

The government this morning announced it would adding $70.7 million to its Events Support Scheme, and extending coverage to events scheduled for before 31 January next year that were planned before being cancelled by the red traffic light setting.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Within a month of the first community exposure to omicron in Aotearoa New Zealand, the variant has already become the dominant strain of covid-19.

We are yet to see the rapid and steep rise in new omicron cases that has been predicted. This could be because of asymptomatic transmission, but it is equally likely because public health measures included in the first phase of the “stamp it out strategy” have been effective.

For now, managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) at the border is successfully stopping hundreds of cases from entering the community.

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While MIQ may soon change in purpose, border restrictions may not lift until the Omicron wave passes.

The country-wide return to red settings under the covid-19 protection framework has bought New Zealand time to learn from experiences abroad. The most challenging phase is yet to come but New Zealand could be well placed to tackle it.

The best way forward is to limit widespread transmission for as long as possible. This reduces opportunities for the virus to replicate, which is when mutations occur, potentially extending the pandemic.

What we know about omicron
Omicron is more transmissible than earlier variants. New Zealand can expect a rapid and steep rise in infections, especially as we’ve already had several potential superspreading events.

As shown below, omicron quickly replaces earlier variants.

Omicron’s transmission advantage is thought to be due to its ability to evade immunity (acquired through infection or vaccination) and quickly infect the upper respiratory tract.

The risk of reinfection also appears higher than for delta, particularly in the unvaccinated and those with lower viral loads during previous infections.

Symptoms to watch out for
Omicron symptoms include a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and a sore throat.

However, New Zealand’s high vaccination rates mean some people may not have any symptoms at all. The danger here is that they will still be able to pass on the virus to others, unaware they have omicron.

Given a choice, would you rather enter a room with Delta or Omicron?
Modeller, Professor @MichaelPlankNZ uses this scenario to explain differences between the #Covid-19 variants, while UC Health’s Dr @hobbs_PA reminds us Omicron isn’t ‘mild’. @UCNZMaths https://t.co/4dgnOSZUJC

— University of Canterbury (@UCNZ) January 31, 2022

It is best to assume that any symptoms, especially a sore throat, are covid-19 until proven otherwise through a test.

For omicron, this may require saliva swab tests as recent evidence suggests they are more sensitive than nasal swabs because the viral load peaks earlier in saliva than nasal mucus.

By testing and isolating, we can avoid spreading it to others who may be at higher risk of severe illness.

Compared to delta, omicron has caused lower hospitalisation and death rates in many countries. This may be because it reproduces in the upper respiratory tract instead of the lungs.

Omicron is also meeting populations with immunity acquired through previous infection or vaccination.

In New Zealand, 67 percent of eligible people have now received their booster, which offers high levels of protection from hospitalisation and death. Boosted individuals are up to 92 percent less likely to be hospitalised with omicron, compared with unvaccinated people.

Vaccination is especially important in New Zealand as we have had minimal prior exposure to covid-19 in the community.

Where to from here
Omicron is a “double-edged sword”. It is vastly more transmissible but less severe. However, it is not a mild infection and there is no guarantee the next variant will be less severe.

In a poorly controlled outbreak, a small percentage of a large number of cases risks overwhelming healthcare systems, increasing inequities and disrupting essential services.

This should still be true even now (with the right measures)
The kicker is that with omicron, lots of HCW sickness will drop the capacity line lower. This will be much more pronounced for the fast red surge than the slow blue wave so in fact the red surge is worse than modelled pic.twitter.com/5hfk4uSMCt

— Alex Kazemi (@KazemiAlex) January 12, 2022

Healthcare workers are already over-burdened and exhausted from previous outbreaks, which have distracted from other services and exacerbated entrenched inequities.

There are several things each of us can do:

• Anybody eligible should prioritise getting boosted
• we should all continue using the COVID-19 tracer app
• we should keep indoor spaces well ventilated by opening windows and doors
• mask wearing remains important, especially where physical distancing is difficult.
• and anybody who feels unwell, should get tested and isolate.

Vaccinating children
As children return to school, we need equitable vaccinations and ventilation.

Data out of Australia indicate children aged five to 11 tolerated the vaccine well, with fewer side effects than adults.

Unfortunately, our analysis, along with other evidence, documents a concerning trend with lower childhood vaccination rates for Māori and Pasifika, as well as large variation between regions.

This is concerning as some countries, including the US, have seen increases in childhood hospitalisation rates for covid-19. In the UK, one in eight pupils have missed school as covid-related absences rise.

The success story of the delta outbreak
Unfortunately, there’s been little time to celebrate the rather remarkable demise of delta. Even as Auckland opened up, hospitalisations and case numbers dropped.

Summer will have helped as people spent more time outdoors. However, public health measures such as border closures, managed isolation and quarantine and contact tracing have no doubt helped stamp out much of delta, allowing a relatively normal summer holiday period for many.

Continuing to keep delta low also means we should not have to deal with a “double epidemic”.

This success may also fill us with some hope that, just perhaps, we might be able to avoid the worst of omicron during this next phase of the pandemic response, with robust and continually refined public health measures in place.

Dr Matthew Hobbs is senior lecturer in public health and co-director of the GeoHealth Laboratory, University of Canterbury; Anna Howe is a research fellow, University of Auckland, and Lukas Marek is a researcher and lecturer in spatial data science, University of Canterbury. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

South Seas Healthcare Trust chief executive Lemalu Silao Vaisola says people are tired of covid-19 rather than complacent after two years of the pandemic.

He said he had seen fatigue set in which could explain the low uptake of the booster shot in the Pacific community.

“People are just covid-fatigued where everything is all about self-isolation, traffic lights and the lockdowns.

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“I think it is just fatigue, people are just tired. So I don’t know if it is complacency, but it’s been ongoing and two years is a long time to go through changes.”

Lemalu said the South Seas Healthcare team were preparing now for omicron to hit communities just like they had done in the past two years of covid-19.

He said the team intended to use the Manukau Insititute of Technology campus for a booster vaccination drive to get rates up.

“We’ve still got the MIT sites that’s during vaccinations and we’ve got a drive through vaccination for increasing the boosters and five to 11 [year olds] and on top of that we’ve been training our staff in terms of outreach into the homes.”

Front and centre
Lemalu said his organisation was front and centre fighting the delta strain and the experience stood them in good stead.

“We’ve got a good template to respond, but again every variant so far provides its own set of challenges,” he said.

“I’m happy that we’ve sort of almost had two years experience that will position us to hopefully be ready for this, but like I said before it’s different from what we are seeing overseas.

“We plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

He is encouraging Pacific families to get a booster shot.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Omicron has ripped through the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, exposing testing regimes, decimating supply chains and causing the country’s deadliest days of the pandemic despite high vaccination rates.

So is that New Zealand’s fate as well?

RNZ News spoke to a trio of experts in Australia who say Aotearoa can and should do better.

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When omicron arrived in Australia in late November, governments followed through on plans to relax restrictions.

University of Sydney epidemiologist Professor Alexandra Martiniuk said that was the first mistake.

“If we had gone a bit lower and slower on our curve we would’ve put the pressure on our systems over a longer period of time — yes, but it would’ve been slower so we probably would’ve experienced less of the crises we did experience and importantly, this is hypothetical I suppose, more people might have been saved.”

As the pressure built on the health system due to the number of cases, it affected the quality of care across the system.

It also removed vast numbers out of the workforce as they isolated awaiting test results or from infection itself.

The key to suppressing the curve was:

• • getting vaccinated and a booster as soon as possible
  • wearing a quality mask
  • thinking about physical distancing and preferably meeting people outdoors
  • scanning in
  • getting tested and isolating if symptomatic.

New Zealand epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely, from the University of Melbourne, agreed, saying the elderly and at-risk needed to exercise extra caution over the coming weeks and months.

About half of New Zealand’s population was likely to contract omicron during the outbreak and that was okay, Professor Blakely said.

The key to minimising death and disruption was about who caught it and when.

“The two tricks are: having accepted that burden of infection coming through, to squash it and spread it out over time so it doesn’t overwhelm health services.

“And the second is to try to tip away the infections from the people who have the highest risk of morbidity and mortality. So people who have comorbidities, are immunocompromised, or who are elderly,” he said.

In essence, the pair believed New Zealand should look to prolong the outbreak, which might sound counter-intuitive, but a steady stream of cases over months was going to be better than a flood over weeks.

Much in the same way the tide coming in over six hours did not cause a problem, but a tsunami did.

Another thing on Aotearoa’s side was the rate of Delta.

Australia was still dealing with 1300 cases a day of the far deadlier variant when Omicron arrived.

Professor Blakely said as a result Australia had been fighting two epidemics.

“It’s utterly clear – omicron is less severe than delta. The vast majority of people who get omicron don’t even know they’ve had it – they’re asymptomatic.

“Yes there will be deaths – that’s unfortunate. But it’s a lot less than had it been delta with this amount of infectiousness.

“Data is patchy — but in New South Wales two-thirds of people in ICU were omicron, which means one-third were delta and probably half of all deaths two weeks ago in New South Wales were among people with delta.

“So what’s happened? Delta is perhaps only 2-5 percent of all infections out in the community but because it’s that much more serious at every step — converting you from asymptomatic to symptomatic, symptomatic to quite sick, quite sick to going to hospital, hospital to ICU, ICU to death — at every point along the way it means even though delta is a tiny proportion of infections out in the community it’s causing a reasonably large fraction of all the hospitalisations and deaths.”

So what does that mean for New Zealand?
“The lesson here for New Zealand is keep delta squashed down,” Professor Blakely said.

As omicron spiralled in the community, contact tracing should focus on delta cases, he said.

He described the New Zealand government’s plan to deal with omicron, released earlier this week, as brilliant.

“I really like the way that they’ve laid out what’s going to happen and how close contacts are going to change, the number of days will get less as you go through before you can go back to work — it’s exactly like I would’ve designed it if I’d been asked to design it. It’s very good.”

However, a degree of flexibility was needed as the pandemic had shown it could throw a curveball even at the best-laid plans.

Stock up on supplies, meet loved ones
Australasian Epidemiological Association president Associate Professor Brigid Lynch said it appeared omicron was potentially as severe as the wild variant identified in Wuhan in late 2019, but far more contagious.

However, unlike in early 2020, there were effective vaccines that drastically curbed serious illness and death.

Far more was also known about the virus’ transmission.

To that end high-quality masks, especially inside, and quality ventilation could reduce transmission, Associate Professor Lynch said.

“Workplaces and settings like education and aged care, we really should have had good ventilation measures – HEPA filters and things that will improve the air quality. Those are things that will be important going forward over the next few years.”

A large and readily available supply of rapid antigen tests could also help in reducing transmission in high-risk or high-density settings, like schools, aged care and health facilities.

Professor Martiniuk said another thing for people to consider now ahead of widespread infection and while time was still on your side was to get ready at home.

Putting some pre-prepared meals into the freezer, stashing some electrolyte drinks and having enough paracetamol and ibuprofen for a week might make the difference between a testing or a terrible time at home with the virus — especially if people had children to care for and consider as well.

Now was also the time to do some last-minute things for self-care, she said.

“It’s silly but it’s actually quite useful, but now is the time to go get your haircut, to go see your loved ones in aged care residences, to get your kids together with their friends – still outdoors preferably, to get a doctor’s appointment for your chronic illness that might need a prescription refill.

“Get it all done as if you’re going on a big vacation because in a month or two if cases are very high, those are the kind of things you won’t want to be doing.”

But all three epidemiologists agreed – while omicron was already here, New Zealand did not need to suffer its worst effects.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

We’ve been hearing a lot about masks this week, fabric, medical and N95. They’ve all got different layers of permeability.

Here’s a quick demonstration of the differences. pic.twitter.com/YaAimXxskl

— Morning Report (@NZMorningReport) January 25, 2022

New Zealand could be facing 50,000 daily omicron infections by Waitangi weekend, according to modelling by US-based health research organisation, peaking at about 80,000 each day just a few weeks later.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) projections, updated last Thursday, predicts an outbreak in New Zealand lasting about three months, with death rates projected to total more than 400 by May 1.

Daily fatalities are predicted to spike at about 10 through mid-March.

There are also warnings this country’s ICU capacity will come under “extreme stress” through February and March.

These are of course predictions and should be viewed as such, however they have been given credence by New Zealand’s leading experts, including University of Otago professors Nick Wilson and Michael Baker: “Our impression is that this work is of high quality and should be considered by NZ policy-makers … [it’s] an organisation with a very strong track record for analysing health data (with some of the best epidemiologists, health data scientists and computer scientists in the world).”

The modelling by the IHME at the University of Washington shows the “most likely” scenarios are based on vaccinations carrying on at the expected pace, mask use staying about the same, and 80 percent of those already vaccinated getting a booster within six months — the numbers do drop if 100 percent get their booster and then again with 80 percent of people using masks whenever they’re out in public.

Under the ‘most likely’ scenario, daily infections start to rapidly take off almost immediately: by February 1 at just over 13,000, by the 9th hitting about 62,000, and peaking in mid-February at over 81,000.

Numbers drop slightly
The numbers drop slightly if everyone gets their booster shot, but there is a significant difference when 80 percent of people are wearing masks.

These are the two public health controls taken into account, so the modelling does not include other measures in place, for example, under New Zealand’s red setting; the different responses around the world vary considerably and compliance would be difficult to accurately gauge.

After peaking in mid-February, infections are projected to fall back to around 50,000 by the first week of March, then tailing off through the rest of that month and April.

The government has been preparing for up to 50,000 cases a day and this week unveiled the “three phase” response, under which testing, contact tracing and isolation requirements will change once cases start to rapidly increase.

There was much political debate late last year about ICU capacity and these latest figures should sound the alarm.

In the face of criticism the government had failed to increase the number of fully resourced ICU beds, Health Minister Andrew Little said there were 289 ICU or High Dependency Unit beds available, insisting that could be increased to up to 550 under surge capacity if needed.

Strongly challenged
That was strongly challenged by clinicians and ICU experts who said the extra capacity was more like 67 — totalling 356 — mainly due to an acute shortage of highly skilled ICU nurses

At the peak of the outbreak, in early March, the modelling estimates 458 ICU beds could be needed, and occupancy could come under “extreme stress” for a number of weeks.

Experts from the University of Otago summarised and analysed the findings, saying the government should take heed and consider police settings accordingly.

They noted socio-economic status and ethnicity were not taken into account, so the modelling would not highlight potentially disproportionate impacts on Māori, New Zealand specific data is incomplete, if delta cases start emerging again and we end up with a “dual variant” outbreak the numbers could be worse, and ICU capacity — outlined in classified Across Government Situation Report leaked to Māori Television — may be underestimated so the predicted pressure on the healthcare system may be even greater.

The authors also draw attention to the “high uncertainty” in the data, for example “the number of cases in hospital might peak at 2790 in early March 2022 … but the 95 percent confidence interval around this 2790 figure is large at: 120 to 9,070”.

“As well as considering the strengths and weaknesses of this IHME modelling, policy-makers will need to consider the potential social and economic disruption from an Omicron outbreak,” they conclude.

Stronger border approach
They also call for a stronger approach at the border, as a key area of vulnerability.

“The NZ government is obviously taking this threat seriously with a recent suspension of future places in MIQ. However, this change will not have an impact on arriving cases until March 2022.

“Therefore, substantially reducing the risk now will probably require a rapid and marked reduction of incoming international flights from some countries (ie, until their outbreaks subside in coming weeks).”

Professor Baker also says the phased opening of the border, due at the end of February, should be pushed out, and the time between the second vaccine dose and booster reduced from four to three months.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A covid-19 Māori health analyst says more than 106,000 vaccinated Māori are not eligible for a booster shot until after March 1 — too late to protect against the expected omicron surge in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Dr Rāwiri Taonui is calling on the government to urgently pull back the waiting period for boosters from four months to three.

He said otherwise Māori will be dangerously exposed to the serious outbreak widely expected by the end of February.

• READ MORE: Other Local Democracy Reporting stories at Asia Pacific Report

Dr Taonui said the age banding for the original vaccination rollout favoured Pākehā (an overall older population) and pushed Māoridom’s more youthful population to the end of the queue.

“Many Māori didn’t become eligible for vaccination until September 1. Around that time, there was a 23 percent gap between Māori vaccination and the national average,” Dr Taonui said.

“Our health providers have done a really amazing job in terms of narrowing that gap back to 10 percent and that included vaccinating over 106,000 people since November 1.

“But the inequity rolls on because now those people wouldn’t be eligible for a booster until March 1 — and that’s going to be too late if omicron surges as we expect it will through February.”

International evidence
Ministry of Health data shows 571,052 Māori aged 12 years and over are eligible for vaccination.

Dr Taonui said international evidence showed a third booster Pfizer dose increased protection 55 to 65 percent against infection, 70 percent against symptomatic illness and 90 percent against hospitalisation, including in older populations over 65 years.

But on Sunday’s numbers, the Māori uptake of boosters was 18.9 percent of the eligible over-18 years population — well behind the national average of 27 percent.

“The government must shorten the qualifying period to three months to meet its obligation under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to actively protect the lives of Māori,” Dr Taonui said.

He said Britain, Australia and some other countries allowed a three-month booster waiting period.

“The international reporting is telling us that indigenous peoples, for example in Australia, Canada and the United States, are being disproportionately inundated with omicron infections.

“Māori are going to be particularly vulnerable because in terms of total vaccinations we’re 10 percent behind the national average. We’re about 12 percent behind in terms of being fully vaccinated and with the booster rollout we’re nearly 10 percent behind the national average there as well.

Māori children vulnerable
“This leaves 17.6 percent of Māori aged over 12 years unvaccinated and therefore particularly vulnerable to the hyper-infectious omicron variant.”

The low rate of vaccination for Māori children aged 5-11 years was “very, very serious”, he said.

“The Ministry of Health hasn’t released national figures yet but there are progress figures available for different DHBs. In Auckland, the Māori rate of tamariki vaccination is running at about half that of the rest of the city. That is another area where Māori need more support from the government.”

Dr Taonui said during the holiday period, active Māori cases declined by 70 percent while active Pākehā cases increased. That reflected higher vaccination rates and was a credit to the vigilance and leadership among Māori communities.

Notwithstanding the lower numbers for Māori, the country’s relatively good vaccination rates, compared to other countries, could slow omicron down but the traffic light system would only go so far with that, he said.

“At the end of the holiday period there was quite a lot to celebrate, except now we’re facing omicron. We’ve also had cases become more widespread across 18 of 20 DHBs now.

“So the traffic light system actually facilitates the more widespread movement of the virus. omicron is going to accelerate and increase quite rapidly, certainly before the middle of February.”

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Published by Asia Pacific Report in collaboration.

Twenty five new cases of covid-19 have been reported in the New Zealand community today, including 10 confirmed omicron cases.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said the new cases were located in Northland (1), Auckland (18), Bay of Plenty (2), Lakes (2), MidCentral (1) and Nelson Marlborough (1).

It said there were two omicron cases in Tauranga.

“Both cases are in the same household and are isolating at home. Case investigations are ongoing but, at this stage, there are a limited number of exposure events associated with these cases.”

The ministry said one omicron case was in Nelson Tasman and was a household contact of a previously reported case. They were already isolating when they tested positive.

And another case in Palmerston North that is a household contact of a previously reported case was also already isolating when they tested positive.

The last six omicron cases reported today are in Auckland — all have been linked to events on January 15 and 16.

Second private event
The ministry revealed that a case from the January omicron cluster also attended a second private event in Auckland during their infectious period.

“The exposure occurred on the evening of January 16 at the Pukekohe Indian Hall in Auckland.

“Auckland Regional Public Health Service believe a large number of people attended this event. Anyone at this location at the relevant times is asked to get tested immediately, and self-isolate until a negative result has been returned.”

Further locations of interest have also been identified across Auckland and the Nelson Tasman region and will be published on the ministry’s website as they are confirmed, the ministry said.

To date, there are 29 community cases of covid-19 associated with the January omicron cluster — all are in isolation.

“Public health officials are continuing to manage omicron cases in the community through rapidly isolating cases and contacts, contact tracing, and testing in order to slow the spread.”

At the border, there are 37 new cases today.

10 with virus in hospital
There are also 10 people with the virus in hospital today – five in North Shore, two in Auckland, one in Middlemore and two in Rotorua.

The average age of those currently hospitalised is 62.

On testing, 12,687 covid-19 tests have been taken in the past 24 hours.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is due to lay out a blueprint for how the country will handle the three planned stages of a widespread outbreak of the omicron variant tomorrow.

At its update yesterday, the ministry announced that there were 25 new community cases, including eight omicron cases.

There were also 50 new cases identified in managed isolation.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.