The Ministry of Health today reported no new Covid-19 cases in Hawke’s Bay. The total remains at 29.

Hawke’s Bay Medical Officer of Health Dr Nick Jones said that while today’s news was pleasing, he urged everyone to continue to stay within their home-based bubbles to give the region the best chance of ensuring that the virus was contained.

He said complacency was the biggest risk. “I do believe we will see more cases within Hawke’s Bay as we continue to test, however today we have had some very good news.”
Dr Jones is encouraging anyone with symptoms to call their GP or Healthline for a referral to a community testing stations.

“We need to find every case across our region, so that when this period of isolation is over, we can be confident that there are no residual cases within our community that will ignite spread.”
Dr Jones said the Ministry of Health had changed the case definition for testing, to allow for more tests to be completed. “The new definition removes the requirement for having been overseas or in contact with a confirmed case.

“I strongly encourage people who develop a cold or flu-like illness and one of the following: a cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, a runny nose or loss of smell, regardless of whether or not they have a temperature, to call their GP or Healthline to be referred to one of our community testing stations.

“We have the testing capacity, and New Zealand’s laboratories have the capacity to process the tests, so please take advantage of this.”

If testing stations reach capacity, priority groups identified by The Ministry of Health will be seen first, Dr Jones said.

Today’s Ministry of Health national case updates can be found here: https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/