This article by RNZ.co.nz is republished with permission under Kaniva News partnerships with Radio New Zealand.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield is detailing the latest on Covid-19 cases in New Zealand.
Watch the briefing here from about 1pm:
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this morning looked to reassure the public in wake of the review on managed isolation, saying she wants people to remember that testing has shown no evidence of the coronavirus in the community.
The review found the managed isolation and quarantine system to be under “extreme stress” and unable to respond to the increasing demands being placed on it as more New Zealanders returned home.
Ardern told Morning Report today there had been 80,000 tests for Covid-19 in the past 13 days with no positive results in the community.
* See all RNZ coverage of Covid-19
The head of managed isolation, Air Commodore Darryn Webb, expected the number of people coming in to the country to increase and said policy decisions would need to be made on regulating that.
The maximum capacity for managed isolation at present was 5764 people.
“We do have an ability to meet a growing need, but there’s no doubt from a system perspective, growing supply and demand both work closely together so we will have to think about those supply issues as well.”
- If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs)