PM Jacinda Ardern has announced new travel rules for leaving Auckland plus more MIQ spots, meanwhile the police commissioner has warned the leader of Destiny Church about a planned protest leading to an enforcement response by police. Video / NZ Herald
Health officials are urging people in Tauranga to get tested and stay calm after a "low-level" detection of Covid-19 in a wastewater sample taken on Thursday.
Tauranga MP Simon Bridges says the five days for the result to be made public seemed "too long", but a scientist says it was returned in two working days after multiple tests.
In the 1pm briefing today, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said a wastewater sample taken on September 23 in Tauranga had tested positive.
Further samples were taken from the wider nearby areas and results are expected on Thursday, Dr Bloomfield said.
Director General of Public Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / NZME
Bloomfield said people in Tauranga should not be worried about the wastewater testing results as unexpected testing results could be due to recovering cases.
The positive test was "too far down the track" to be connected to the truck driver who tested positive and visited Tauranga, Cambridge and Hamilton two weeks ago, Bloomfield said.
Workers travelling from Auckland to Tauranga should check they are up to date with testing, and people in Tauranga were also advised to get tested if symptomatic.
Tauranga MP Simon Bridges told the Bay of Plenty Times the five days it took to inform people of the positive result seemed "too long".
"Results like the wastewater test should come out as soon as possible."
He said further test results later this week would help determine how concerned Tauranga residents should be.
ESR senior scientist Brent Gilpin said the level of the virus in the sample collected from Tauranga was considered very low.
"The positive sample was received by ESR on Friday and the result was reported within less than two working days. This included time for repeat analysis of the samples due to the initial low-level detection of the virus," Gilpin said.
A sample from Tauranga was analysed two days earlier and no virus was detected. Wastewater in Tauranga is tested twice a week.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said the detection in Tauranga was included in ESR's report which was received on Monday evening.
COVID waste water test in #Tauranga announced at 1pm: 1. If you are in WBOP and have symptoms please get a test (https://t.co/yCiZNPKwv2) 2. Keep safe - distancing, masks, tracer app 3. Don't panic - we don't have much info yet, but . . 4. Get vaccinated!!
Bay of Plenty District Health Board chief executive Peter Bonneville Chandler appealed for calm in a tweet.
He told residents not to panic as details were "scant". He advised people to social distance, wear masks, scan, and get a test if they had symptoms.
The DHB's Covid-19 incident controller Trevor Richardson said anyone symptomatic in the greater Tauranga area - including Mount Maunganui - should get a test.
"If you have been to a location of interest in the Tauranga, Waikato, Auckland, or Upper Hauraki areas and haven't already been tested, please get a test."
Locations of interest are on the Ministry of Health's website.
He said GP practices that provide Covid tests would extend testing hours depending on demand. More testing facilities could be stood up immediately if necessary.
Toi Te Ora Public Health said additional wastewater samples were also being taken from nearby areas including Paeroa, Waihi Beach, Katikati, Matamata, Te Puke and Maketu.
Western Bay of Plenty mayor Garry Webber said he was heartened authorities were testing other areas in the district to better ascertain the potential impact of the test result.
"Hopefully it's a false positive or something like that but we have to be so preventative and react accordingly."
University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker said the positive result was "a warning flag".
"It's a warning that there's a possibility of an infected person and chain of transmission in Tauranga. The next steps will be to repeat the testing.
Tauranga MP Simon Bridges. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"The thing with these test results is that many of them, particularly if they're unexpected, turn out to be because someone who is no longer infected is in the community," he said.
"People can shed fragments of RNA [a molecule] for weeks, possibly months, after they've recovered from infection."
Baker said the result might be a "one-off," but if there were consistently positive results, "you would get more concerned".
The test result did not "necessarily correspond to active transmission" and a lockdown was only necessary if there were infected people in the community, he said.
He urged everyone in Tauranga to be vigilant and for those with symptoms to get tested.
"We have to assume there is someone there and act accordingly.
"It's still possible there may be a chain of transmission that will emerge and more action will be needed."
University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker. Photo / NZME
Baker said he was concerned about the Auckland border because there was "ongoing transmission in Auckland [and] there's no guarantee it's going to be contained".
"We have low levels of ongoing transmission in Auckland and we have a requirement for pre-departure testing from Auckland, but that system had the "potential to miss cases", he said.
There are eight Covid cases in the community in Auckland today.
A request has been made for permitted workers over the next two weeks, regardless of symptoms, to get two tests at least five days apart - especially in the construction, hospitality and retail sectors.
Two weeks ago, a bakery and petrol station in Tauranga were visited by an Auckland truck driver who later tested positive for Covid-19.
Uppercrust Bakery in Mount Maunganui is a location of interest. Photo / George Novak
The Uppercrust Bakery in Mount Maunganui was visited by a person with the virus on September 11 and 14. The BP petrol station in Tauriko was also a location of interest for September 11.
Anyone who was at the bakery or petrol station during those times was told to monitor their health for 14 days from the date of exposure and to get a Covid test.
Two weeks ago three students were stood down and told to self-isolate after leaving Auckland to attend classes at the Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology's Windermere campus in Tauranga.
Toi Ohomai confirmed today the students had all returned a third negative Covid-19 test. They would be returning to campus this coming Monday, 14 days after they arrived.
