Covid-19

Covid-19 surge: PM rules out return to red traffic light setting – for now

Published

4 years ago

July 6, 2022

Despite an increase in Covid-19 cases there is no need at present for the country to shift back into the red traffic light setting, the prime minister says.

Covid-19 cases are on the rise again and a new subvariant, BA.2.75, has been detected here for the first time.

There were 9629 new community cases announced today and the seven-day rolling average was 7246 compared with 5480 last Tuesday.

On Friday afternoon, genome sequencing confirmed two cases in New Zealand with the BA.2.75 subvariant of Omicron.

The two cases had recently travelled from India where it had previously been detected.

The Ministry of Health said the characteristics of the subvariant may enhance its ability to evade immunity.

There was early evidence overseas that it might be slightly more transmissible than BA.2.

Speaking in Australia, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the settings were recently reviewed, and New Zealand would only move to red if it would have a material effect on slowing case numbers.

“Keep in mind we have really important rules at the orange setting that are there to protect us,” Ardern said.

“Having just come from Europe, also recently the United States, even being here in Australia I can tell you that New Zealand is still using measures many other countries don’t.”

One main change under red would be gathering limits, however, there was still a question mark over whether that would make much difference, given the notable rise in infections among older New Zealanders.

She said the two most important measures to reduce the spread of the virus were vaccinations and mask use.

“I encourage our older New Zealanders to go out and get that booster shot and for people to keep using their masks and if you’re sick isolate at home.

“The point here is we have to do things that make a difference to what we’re seeing now.”

New Zealand had hung on to mask use and vaccinations partly because winter was putting additional pressure on the country’s health system, Ardern said .

University of Auckland infectious disease expert Dr Siouxsie Wiles told RNZ yesterday that another wave of Covid-19 had been expected and should not come as a surprise.

She urged people to wear masks in “as many situations as they can”, remember to ventilate rooms as much as possible and stay up to date with all vaccine doses.

University of Canterbury professor and Covid-19 modeller Michael Plank said infections could potentially hit a similar peak to the first March wave of around 20,000 cases per day.

SOURCE: RNZ

Covid-19

Covid-19 update: 8544 new cases, 39 further deaths linked to virus

Published

3 years ago

June 19, 2023

News Staff

There were 8544 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa in the week to midnight on Sunday, and a further 39 deaths attributed to the virus.

The total number of deaths attributed to the virus in New Zealand is now 3077.

In addition, there were 246 cases in hospital at midnight on Sunday with six in intensive care.

The seven-day rolling average of cases was 1217.

Last week, 9883 new Covid-19 cases were reported and a further 37 deaths were attributed to the virus.

Source: RNZ

Covid-19

Dr Jonathan Howard: why US doctors spread Covid disinformation

Published

3 years ago

May 21, 2023

News Staff

An American doctor believes more than 800,000 Americans would be alive today, if the US had taken New Zealand’s Covid approach.

Jonathan Howard, who is the chief of neurology at Bellevue Hospital in New York, said he was angry that influential health professionals minimised the seriousness of the virus.

“We want them infected,” was the call of then presidential science adviser Paul Alexander.

It’s also the title of Howard’s new book, which tells the story of how some medical and public health professionals came to become anti-vaccine and pro herd immunity.

He told Kim Hill on Saturday Morning there was a deluge of mis-information from prominent US doctors, some of whom wanted to actually spread the virus.

“Famous doctors from our top universities went on television and told people that Covid was just going away, that it was just the flu, that young people under the age of 65 have essentially no risk,” he said.

“And not only were there not attempts to limit the virus, these were loud influential voices who wanted to spread it.

“You can read quotes from our former Covid advisor, Donald Trump’s former Covid advisor, celebrating rising cases, saying this is a good thing when cases rise, which is shocking and astonishing.”

While Howard said there were obvious differences between the two countries, many lives could have been saved if the US had taken a similar approach to New Zealand.

“If we had limited infections until we had vaccinated the vast majority of our population, we would have potentially had hundreds of thousands of people still alive today, there’s no question about that.”

However, our zero-Covid strategy wasn’t without its critics, with Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya writing that it had “cost New Zealand dearly”.

“I think that the fact that most of your grandparents are still alive means that zero Covid did not cost you dearly,” Howard said in response.

“I don’t discount that, there were real costs of the lockdowns, I don’t know anyone who argues otherwise and I want to be very clear that I was protected from those costs, meaning I am very fortunate to be employed, I worked throughout the pandemic, I was never lonely, I don’t have my own business.”

But Howard said he didn’t think that the alternative – letting the virus spread freely – would have yielded a better outcome.

He said that when forklifts were needed to move bodies into giant refrigerated trucks in New York, it was fantasy to imagine the city could have operated as normal during the pandemic.

“You talk about deferred healthcare – every single healthcare worker was working with Covid patients, our hospitals were overflowing,” he said.

“So when I hear people lament they missed cancer screenings, who would have done those screenings? Would elderly patients have left their house to go to crowded waiting rooms to get a mammogram for example? I don’t think so.

“I think that the fantasy is that things could have just been normal if only if it hadn’t been for overly cautious politicians.”

By comparison, New Zealand did well, Howard said.

“I look at the numbers, I look at your death rate with great jealousy.” he said.

“And I think for long periods of time your economy was more open than ours was because we had to keep locking down, just because there were overwhelming outbreaks of the virus.”

Howard said the fact many older New Zealanders were still alive compared with the US statistics, showed the success of this country’s Covid strategy.

Source RNZ