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New Zealand’s COVID numbers have dropped again to the lowest number in six days.
Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Tuesday that 49 cases had been recorded the previous day, all in Auckland, bringing the total number of infections in this outbreak to 612.
New Zealand Pm Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.Credit:Getty Images
Bloomfield said most importantly, the “reproduction rate is remaining under 1, which means cases should continue to decline and we’re breaking the train of transmission”.
But he said six cases were under the age of one, reinforcing the need to isolate and remain vigilant.
He said 33 people were in hospital, including eight in ICU. Two were on ventilators, Bloomfield said. The youngest person in hospital was 18, while two-thirds of all cases were under 30.
There were 53 cases on Monday, 83 on Sunday, the worst day of the current Delta outbreak so far, and 82 on Saturday.
The whole country south of Auckland will go to a level-three lockdown for a week as planned at 11.59pm on Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Northland region will move to level three restrictions at 11.59pm on Thursday, but Auckland will stay on level four lockdown for at least another two weeks
Asked about the investigation into the transmission of the Delta variant from a returned traveller from NSW in quarantine to the first case in the community on August 17, Ardern said there was still no answer. Genomic sequencing linked the cases, but the train of infection was still a mystery.
“We’ve conclusively ruled out any links – there was a theory that there was a link to someone at the Crown Plaza – but they have had three tests and they do not have COVID,” she said.
She said several theories and contacts have been investigated and all possible person-to-person contact ruled out. She said investigations would continue.
“We may never find the exact way the virus got from the facility into the community,” Bloomfield added.
More to come
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