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Home / New Zealand

Covid 19 coronavirus: Chances of community transmission 'very low' but Kiwis urged against complacency

NZ Herald
14 May, 2020 12:27 AM3 mins to read

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There were no new cases of Covid-19 and 94% of existing cases have recovered. PM Jacinda Ardern says the strict rules for funerals under alert level 2 are being looked at and an announcement is expected this afternoon.

The chances of coronavirus community transmission in New Zealand is now considered "very low" by health authorities.

But members of the public are being warned not to start getting complacent and to keep in mind the virus may still be out there among communities.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said he was heading into alert level 2 today feeling satisfied about New Zealand's situation surrounding Covid-19.

"Not only have we turned this thing around, but we're coming into it with really good numbers [and] we're coming into it with a really clear sense of direction from here about what's needed to happen."

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Bloomfield was speaking to Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking Breakfast show today.

READ MORE:
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• Covid 19 coronavirus: What's open under level 2?
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• Covid 19 coronavirus: Are New York's improving numbers masking the true trajectory of US outbreak?

He said he was satisfied with contact-tracing and testing systems put in place and, as a result, New Zealand was not uncovering any pockets of infection now.

He said there was now a "very low" chance of community transmission.

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Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield speaks to media yesterday. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield speaks to media yesterday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Health officials were simply not finding traces of community transmission of coronavirus, which he acknowledged was a huge positive.

"It's hard to say no, but I can say that there's a very, very low risk now because we've done over 200,000 tests," he said.

That included testing people without coronavirus symptoms.

"Yeah - people can be confident. However, we don't want that situation here where we drop our vigilance, where we drop our guard and it gets away on us again.

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"It doesn't mean it's not out there."

"We're just going to have to keep an eye out there ... to see if it's still out there."

Bloomfield was asked about situations in other overseas cities and countries - including in China's Wuhan and Germany, where Covid-19 cases had emerged again after lockdown procedures eased.

He maintained New Zealand was in a much better position compared to some.

"The key thing is that ... Germany and those other European countries are opening up when they know they've still got quite a lot of infection out there.

"We're not in that position. We're in a very good position here."

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• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

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