The BFD | COVID-19 Update: 17 April 2020

We are at Level 4 of New Zealand’s four-level COVID-19 alert system. It is likely Level 4 measures will stay in place for a number of weeks. More information on alert levels.

Everyone must now stay home, except those providing essential services.
Only make physical contact with those that you live with.

Government COVID-19 Response Briefing

The All of Government COVID-19 National Response will provide an update at 1.00 pm today.

Speakers:

Hon Grant Robertson, Minister of Finance
Dr Caroline McElnay, Director of Public Health

Ministry of Health Update:

Two new deaths
A man in his 90s from Hamilton, connected to Matamata cluster
A woman in her 80s, connected to Rosewood cluster
8 new cases – 2 new confirmed and 6 new probables.
Total deaths 11
1409 total cases
12 in hospital, 3 in ICU, 2 in critical
816 recovered
16 significant clusters – no change from yesterday.
4241 tests yesterday
Total tests to date 74,401
Testing criteria expanded to all respiratory symptoms
More than 2000 tests were run yesterday. DHBs in Waikato, Canterbury, and Queenstown have been running asymptomatic testing of people.
McElnay, Director of Public Health bizarrely claims that we have a robust definition of recovered

Finance Minister Update:

Level 3 will not be markably different than level 4. “It is not a return to pre-Covid days, we are some time from that,” he says.
Lockdowns in places like the UK and India have extended lockdowns. “This is a long game, a marathon, not a sprint.”
Roberston says hunting is high risk despite the fact that cycling and many other sports that are allowed are in the top 20 ACC claim profiles, while hunting is not.
Robertson said there isn’t a ban on hunting, there’s a piece of work underway to assess whether it can safely go ahead in alert level three. He said there was an error on the website yesterday.
Under level three relocation rules, can someone move to their holiday home for the entirety of the next period? Robertson said they want people to essentially stay where they are. If they need to relocate for work, then that’s okay, but they don’t want a lot of people just going to their holiday homes.

Yesterday’s details.

15 new cases – 6 new confirmed and 9 new probables. No further deaths.
770 recovered
1401 total cases
12 in hospital, 3 in ICU, 2 in critical
Over 3000 tests undertaken yesterday, taking total tests to over 70,000.
Sentinel testing going on
Queenstown testing underway
16 significant clusters – no change from yesterday. Of the 15 new cases 11 are connected to the clusters.

COVID-19 – current cases

	Total	Change in last 24 hours
Number of confirmed cases in New Zealand	1,086	2
Number of probable cases	323	6
Number of confirmed and probable cases	1,409	8
Number of cases currently in hospital	14	2
Number of recovered cases	816	46
Number of deaths	11	2

Notes:

A probable case is one without a positive laboratory result, but which is treated like a confirmed case based on its exposure history and clinical symptoms. For more details please refer to Case definition of COVID-19 infection.
Recovered cases are people who had the virus, are at least 10 days since onset and have not exhibited symptoms for 48 hours, and have been cleared by the health professional responsible for their monitoring.
The number of confirmed and probable cases reported in the last 24 hours includes cases which were entered on an earlier date as ‘under investigation’ or ‘suspected’ whose status has now been changed to confirmed or probable.

View details of confirmed and probable cases.

View details of significant COVID-19 clusters.

View testing data by region.

View interactive map and dashboard.

Confirmed and probable cases by DHB

Total cases by DHB in hospital

DHB	Total cases
Auckland	5
Canterbury	1
Counties Manukau (Middlemore)	2
Northland	1
South Canterbury	1
Southern	1
Waikato	2
Waitemata	1
Total	14

Note: Three of the 14 in hospital are in ICU as at 8.30 am 17 April 2020.

Download the Map of confirmed and probable cases by DHB (PDF, 282 KB).

Total cases in hospital by DHB

DHB	Active	Recovered	Deceased	Total	Change in last 24 hours
Auckland	53	131		184	1
Bay of Plenty	14	30		44	0
Canterbury	64	75	7	146	3
Capital and Coast	44	46	2	92	1
Counties Manukau	42	67		109	0
Hawke’s Bay	23	18		41	0
Hutt Valley	7	13		20	0
Lakes	6	9		15	0
Mid Central	10	19		29	0
Nelson Marlborough	15	33		48	0
Northland	17	9		26	0
South Canterbury	8	6		14	0
Southern	67	147		214	1
Tair?whiti	3	1		4	0
Taranaki	3	11		14	0
Waikato	102	80	1	183	1
Wairarapa	0	8		8	0
Waitemat?	98	107	1	206	1
West Coast	3	2		5	0
Whanganui	3	4		7	0
Total	582	816	11	1,409	8

Epidemic Curve

Total Cases by Age and Gender

Ethnicity percentages of all cases

Transmission

Transmission type	% of cases
Contact with known case	54%
Recent overseas travel	39%
Community transmission	3%
Source under investigation	3%

Source: ESR EpiSurv extract as at 09:00 17 April 2020

Lab testing and capacity

Lab Testing	Tests	Date
Total tested yesterday	4,241	16 April 2020
7-day rolling average	2,674	10 April to 16 April 2020
Total tested to date	74,401	22 January to 16 April 2020
Supplies in stock	67,702	17 April 2020