Venkat Raman
Auckland, February 15, 2021
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that genomic sequencing of the latest three community cases of Covid-19 have been established as of UK Variant and said that once again going hard and early were important.
Auckland City moved into Lockdown Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country to Alert Level 2 from 11.59 pm last night and remain so until 11.59 pm on Wednesday. The government will review the situation every 24-hours and media briefing is scheduled to be held daily.
The three community cases revealed yesterday (Sunday) were of a family in South Auckland- a couple and their daughter. The woman is reported to be working in the laundry section of LSG SkyChefs, a company providing services to airlines, while the man is believed to a tradesman. Their daughter is a student at Papatoetoe High School which will remain closed today and tomorrow as a precaution.
Ms Ardern told ‘Morning Report’ that the genomic sequencing has not been able to link the three new cases to any existing ones that have been cited at the government’s managed isolation facilities.
“It is unlikely therefore that there are any issues with our managed isolation,” she said.
Ms Ardern said that health officials are continuing to investigate whether the Virus came from a transit passenger or from an international aircrew.
In some cases, the crew have their uniforms cleaned at the place where the woman works.
According to experts, there are no reported cases transmission of Covid-19 through laundry.
“The most likely scenario is always human-to-human (transmission) but even with those lesser likely possibilities we do not rule them out, we try and explore every possible option. We will be contacting airlines to see if there was a genome match with the latest cases. The third but less likely possibility was that it was a result from someone in MIQ whose case did not have genome sequencing done,” Ms Ardern said.
She said that sequencing is a challenge because it is usually because they are an older infection of historic infection.
Wastewater Testing
Ms Ardern said that wastewater testing for traces of the Virus in South Auckland on February 10, 2021 did not pick up anything, which provide a little more assurance.
A similar testing will be done in Taranaki, she added.
She said that New Zealand had taken measures against the more infectious variants, with requirements for predeparture testing, day zero testing, and keeping returnees in rooms after their final test in MIQ.
Speaking about Vaccination, Ms Ardern said that border workers will be inoculated first, and that the government is prepared to respond to varying circumstances.
Hospitality industry hit
Restaurant Association Chief Executive Marisa Bidois said that the move to Alert Level 3 (Auckland) and Level 2 (rest of New Zealand) is another blow for an industry already struggling for survival.
“Obviously, this is a major blow for our industry who are already struggling to recover from the compounded impact of changes to alert levels and border closures. With borders closed, our revenues continue to suffer and these changes of alert levels are incredibly difficult to manage. Many businesses will have stocked up on food for the days ahead and will now incur wastage costs on top of significantly reduced revenues,” she said.
Ms Bidois said that the industry would far prefer a short time at Level 3 than extended lockdowns experienced overseas.
Ms Ardern said that businesses will receive financial support if restrictions go beyond seven days. After 72 hours, the government will indicate if that would become possible.
“Payments will be made with retrospective effect,” she said.
She said there would also be extended support for businesses who experience similar decline in revenue while outside of Level 3.
“We have created a regime now for businesses who are not at Level 3 but at lower levels to be able to access support, that is an adjustment we made since the last time we had a lockdown,” Ms Ardern said.
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