No New Cases Of COVID-19

Once again, there are no new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand. This is the 10th consecutive day of no new cases.

Our total number of confirmed cases remains at 1,154, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization.

Our combined total of confirmed and probable cases remains at 1,504.

The number of recovered cases is unchanged at 1,481. Only one case remains active.

There are no additional deaths to report.

There is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care for COVID-19.

Testing
Yesterday our laboratories completed 626 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 281,609.

Lower testing volumes are regularly observed over holiday weekends, and we recognise that this Alert Level 2 Queens Birthday, people will have been taking the advantage of the renewed ability to travel and enjoy a break within New Zealand.

However we want to encourage and remind everyone that if they have any respiratory symptoms, they should seek advice from Healthline, their GP or after-hours clinic about getting tested. Testing is free.

As we've done to date, we'll keep our testing approach under constant review to respond to any changes, and New Zealanders can be assured that testing will continue to be a tool against COVID-19.

The Ministry has requested that DHBs continue to ensure equitable access to testing for those who have symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Each DHB will be making its own decisions on how best to provide testing over the coming weeks and this may involve a mix of CBACs, mobile services, primary care and other community-based testing. Each DHB will determine when and if it is appropriate for them to close their CBACs, while ensuring that testing is available.

As at Friday (29 May) there were 64 active CBACs (Community Based Assessment Centres) operating around the country and 105 designated practices, including mobile clinics, providing assessments and swabbing.

We have continued to review and update our sentinel and surveillance testing strategy throughout the response. An updated testing strategy will be considered by Cabinet this week. We anticipate any updates on this strategy should be publicly available by mid-June.

Information on our testing for COVID-19 during Alert Level 3 and 2

COVID-19 testing in Alert Levels 3 and 2 to support New Zealand’s elimination strategy (PDF, 209 KB)

NZ COVID Tracer app

The NZ COVID Tracer app has now recorded 476,000 registrations – that’s an increase of 8,000 since this time yesterday.

We continue to encourage as many people as possible to download the app – it will help us identify, trace, test and isolate any cases of COVID-19.

We also recognise the work being done by businesses to get their unique QR codes up and running - the latest figures are for 20,774 posters having been created (to Sunday 31 May).

ENDS

© Scoop Media