Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer calls for swifter Ministry updates

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (right) with a member of the Manaaki Whanau saliva testing team last month. Photo / Supplied

Four new Omicron cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Hāwera on Tuesday, although three missed the Ministry of Health's daily cut-off period for reporting.

Māori Party co-leader and South Taranaki-based list MP Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said it was frustrating to have a "drip-feed" of official Ministry communications regarding new cases.

However, the Ministry of Health said its process was reliable and timely, and public health units commenced the management of cases as soon as they were notified.

Ngarewa-Packer said she had known about the cases in Hāwera, notified on Tuesday, for the past two days.

"We want to get as much testing done as possible, so we can tease it out and keep things contained," Ngarewa-Packer said.

"If the virus' advantage is that it can spread quickly, then surely our ministries need to adjust their communications and their reporting templates.

"We are still running on the same templates from 2020 and 2021. That means our communities don't get told in real time and they are going to relax, and they aren't going to get tested in real time."

Having official confirmation of cases was important for the community to see, she said.

"Even a day delay is too long.

"We use all our own comms and networks to get information out, but the reality is the testing in Hāwera is low.

"We did have a good response yesterday, but is it matching four positive cases? No, it's not.

"I think we need a flexible agency to change that template, to stop making your cut-off timeline for reporting at midnight."

Testing and vaccination rates were lagging in parts of her region, and people needed to hear the official response to new cases as soon as possible, Ngarewa-Packer said.

"We are all doing everything we can to protect our community, and the Ministry of Health needs to stretch itself a bit more now.

"It's not too much to expect the Ministry's response unit to adjust so people get as close to real-time information as possible."

Ngarewa-Packer said the Ministry needed to "be a little less bureaucratic and a bit more community-minded" in the way it operated.

"If the numbers we are seeing in the modelling are as high as they are saying they're going to be, we've got a long way to go.

"They [Ministry of Health] just need to get their act together. We've probably got days versus weeks.

"[The Ministry] need to adjust to us."

A Ministry spokesperson said it had been announcing the number of Covid-19 cases through its 1pm statement each day since March 2020.

"The Ministry has taken this approach so that the public has reliable, confirmed, well-contextualised and timely information about the Government's Covid-19 response from the health sector.

"Each day, the Ministry reports cases who have tested positive in a 24 hour period from midnight to midnight.

"If a case returns a positive result outside of this timeframe, and there is a pressing public health need to release information about the case, the case will be announced in the 1pm statement, and then formally recorded in the case tally the next day – this approach was taken for the cases announced today [February 1] who are isolating in South Taranaki."

It was important to note that public health units commenced the management of cases – including interviewing them to identify contacts and exposure events – as soon as they were notified, the spokesperson said.

"This process ensures that close contacts (who are at highest risk of exposure) are identified quickly."