As New Zealand wakes up under Alert Level 3, PM Jacinda Ardern talks to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking about Covid-19 checkpoints, Deborah Russell, and the wage subsidy scheme. Audio / Newstalk ZB
Northland has recorded its 11th day without a new Covid-19 case as New Zealand's national case tally rose by three today.
Two confirmed cases and one probable case, announced by Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield today, took New Zealand's tally to 1472 - which included 1214 recovered cases.
Northland's last new Covid-19 case, the region's 27th, was reported by the Ministry of Health on April 17.
Northland's tally did increase from 27 to 28 on Anzac Day, but that additional case was a person already confirmed with the illness who had been transferred from Auckland Regional Public Health Service to Northland District Health Board because Northland is their home region.
Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / File
The patient had since completed quarantine and recovered.
Northland's cases were made up of 26 confirmed and two probable cases. Eight were Māori, 18 European, and two were listed as "other".
Nationally, 2146 tests were completed yesterday taking the overall total of tests conducted to 126,066. There were nine people in hospital, including one person in intensive care in Middlemore.
With the nation entering alert level three today, Bloomfield urged people to maintain physical distancing at recently opened takeaway businesses.
He also implored the public not confuse the terms 'elimination' and 'eradication', stating that elimination referred not to one point in time, but to an instance where New Zealand had a small number of cases, knew where they were coming from, and had solid contact tracing and testing capability.
With regard to mobile testing in areas such as Northland, Bloomfield said testing had gone well and would continue where appropriate.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose press conference directly followed Bloomfield's, reinforced the Director General of Health's sentiment around vigilance during alert level three.
"We will have to keep stamping Covid out until there is a vaccine," she said.
Ardern said about 75 per cent of the economy was operating at alert level 3, with about 1 million New Zealanders at work. Road and rail projects were back up and running, but many workers had been displaced.
Speaking alongside Ardern, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced a raft of Government-led employment service initiatives, to be delivered through the Ministry of Social Development.
Named 'Keep New Zealand Working', Sepuloni said an online platform was now live, connecting jobseekers to employers and provides training courses for those wanting to up-skill, and there will also be 35 more employment centres around the country.
Nevertheless, Sepuloni said unemployment would rise before it improved.
"We're already seeing dramatic increases in unemployment in countries around the world like Australia and the UK, and New Zealand has not escaped this reality."
