COVID-19 updates
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COVID-19 Message from the Director-General of Health – Dr Ashley Bloomfield 19 February 202119/2/2021
Kia ora koutou, Thank you for your ongoing support and continued commitment to keeping our workers, borders and communities safe from COVID-19. continued...
To further support the implementation of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Order 2020, we have created a new resource for the border sector that consolidates all key information relating to this order in one location: the Guidance Manual for Border Worker Testing for COVID-19 (Aviation and Maritime sectors). This Guidance Manual has now been published on the Ministry of Health website at: https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/guidance-manual-border-worker-testing-5feb-2021.pdf What’s included in the Guidance Manual? The manual covers all information relating to worker and employer (PCBU) duties and responsibilities and has a particular focus on the Aviation and Maritime sectors. We have not included information about Managed Isolation and Quarantine Facilities because comprehensive information is already available for government agencies managing these facilities. The manual also includes Aviation and Maritime sector specific information, and some of our Public Health guidance for businesses. The Guidance Manual document and it will be updated on a regular basis, as changes occur to our legislative environment. We will continue to work with stakeholders to address questions about specific circumstances. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us at: COVID-19testing@health.govt.nz. Ngā mihi, COVID-19 Message from the Director-General of Health – Dr Ashley Bloomfield 3 February 20213/2/2021
It’s been a busy start to 2021 and for many of our frontline health workers the pace did not ease over the holiday period. Thank you to everyone who continued to keep New Zealanders safe over the last month as part of our COVID-19 response. Click here to read the full COVID-19 update - Dr Ashley Bloomfield 3rd February Kia ora koutou, As we settle into 2021, we’ll continue our regular reviews of our surveillance strategies and testing plans to ensure they’re fit for purpose and support us in achieving our goal of keeping COVID-19 out of Aotearoa New Zealand. continued...
Refreshed strategies, plans and testing guidance for the year ahead We’ve taken the opportunity to simplify our suite of strategies, plans and guidance. I would like to thank those of you who have provided input into these documents, some of which we’ve renamed to better reflect their purpose. We have updated our Surveillance strategy and introduced a new Testing Plan to replace our mid-term national testing strategy. The new Testing Plan outlines our approach for testing nationwide at a high level, taking a systematic, risk-based approach. It outlines three settings for testing: at the border, in the community and testing for contact tracing and cluster management, when required. We’ve also renamed the document we use to confirm our short-term focus for testing. Previously we called this document a Testing Strategy and sent an updated version to you on a regular basis, approximately every two weeks. This document is now called Testing Guidance for the Health Sector, and from this week’s edition onwards will have a slightly longer lifespan, which we’ll confirm each time we update and distribute it. This week’s edition covers a 5-week period from 28 January to 3 March. Monitoring global developments As 2021 gets up and running, we’ll continue to monitor global trends and, any risks posed by the new variant of the virus first identified in the UK/South Africa/Brazil. The emergence of new variants, some of which are more transmissible, underscores the need to continue to maintain strong border controls. Focus for the next five weeks From 28 January – 3 March 2021, our focus remains on continuing to implement a sufficient level of testing across New Zealand Aotearoa to ensure that any cases of COVID-19 are quickly identified and managed. This includes responding to the recent positive case in Northland, and providing reassurance that the border is secure through continued mandatory testing protocols for staff in those settings, for New Zealanders returning home, and for foreign nationals with workforce exemptions. As we learn more about the Northland case, our testing focus may change. We will work closely with you and stay in touch as the situation develops. I’d like to thank those of you who worked rapidly to implement community testing centres over the weekend. In the community, our focus remains on: · testing anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 in all regions · testing regions/groups that have been underrepresented in recent data, in particular Māori communities · testing at the border, including testing border workers and those in managed isolation and quarantine facilities · supporting DHB readiness with local response plans for testing if there are any community cases, including locations for testing that are easy for people to get to, workforce requirements, lab capacity; and · promoting basic public health actions – distancing, hand washing, responsible hygiene, and stay home if sick. These are things that everyone can do, and we know they work with COVID-19, including any new variants. As advised previously, anyone presenting to hospital with an acute respiratory infection, or who develops symptoms while hospitalised, should be tested for SARS-CoV-2, irrespective of region or other risk criteria. Summer public holiday testing Our latest testing guidance reflects ongoing expected increases to domestic travel and socialising over the coming weeks, as the summer holiday period continues. We’ll continue to remind people that tests for COVID-19 will be available on public holidays. Please encourage providers in your region to ensure a plan is in place to regularly update testing location information on Healthpoint.co.nz and DHB/practice websites throughout the summer. Testing numbers In addition to this, we are encouraging anyone with cold or flu symptoms to stay at home and get a test. They should stay at home until they have a negative test result, regardless of where they live in New Zealand. Please ensure that your holiday hours and practice information is up to date on Healthpoint.co.nz throughout the summer holiday period. We will be referring people to Healthpoint for testing location information through Ministry communications and the NZ COVID Tracer app. Healthline also uses this resource to refer people to testing sites so it’s important that your hours and services are up to date at all times. Testing numbers, including mandatory border testing, averaged 30,000 to 40,000 a week for the three months to mid-December. Numbers dropped over the summer holiday period and have averaged around 23,000 a week for the last four weeks. The decrease is due to fewer tests being carried out in the community, with contributors including low incidence of influenza-like illness and the absence of community cases resulting in fewer close or casual contacts needing to be tested. The full current clinical advice for the period ending 3 March 2021 is available here. As always, the assessment and testing for COVID-19 is at no cost to individuals. Kind regards, Dr Ashley Bloomfield Director-General of Health COVID-19 Message from the Director-General of Health – Dr Ashley Bloomfield 21 January 202121/1/2021
Kia ora koutou, A very happy New Year to you all. I hope wherever you were in New Zealand you managed to have a break and switch off with friends and whānau. I want to firstly thank all our essential workers, including health workers, for their efforts in our MIQ facilities over the break. Your commitment to protecting New Zealand’s borders enables our country to live without COVID-19 in our communities. Every day you go to work you keep the rest of us safe and I am so grateful. Click here to read the full update Please find below some guidance from our Contact Tracing team regarding Bluetooth notifications:
Guidance For Health Professionals Bluetooth Tracing FAQ's Please share with all Clinical Teams such as GP’s , ED staff, Testing Centre’s and others that the public may contact should they receive a notification. Have a safe Christmas and New Year. Response and Coordination COVID-19 Response Ministry of Health COVID-19 Message from the Director-General of Health – Dr Ashley Bloomfield 18 December 202021/12/2020
Kia ora koutou, We have undertaken our regular review of our Testing Strategy and I’m writing to confirm that, for the period ending 27 January 2021, we’ll continue to focus our testing efforts on testing all people with symptoms of COVID-19 in all regions. continued...
This continues our focus on testing: - regions/groups that have been underrepresented in recent data, in particular Māori communities - testing as part of any wider case or outbreak investigation, including targeting testing by geographic location or specific populations, if appropriate at the border, including testing border workers and those in managed isolation and quarantine facilities. Testing during the holidays I want to thank those of you who have already been working with the Ministry and DHBs to ensure there will be adequate testing capacity and public health measures in place throughout New Zealand to ensure that Kiwis will be able to holiday safely. We are asking everyone to ensure that their plans recognise our collective need to continue to provide testing services during the summer break. It is important that these plans take into account the events planned and usual holiday patterns in your region. Our latest Testing Strategy reflects expected increases to domestic travel and socialising over the coming weeks, particularly around the key public holidays in December and January. In the leadup to this, and throughout the summer, we will be reminding people that tests for COVID-19 will be available throughout the holiday season, including on public holidays. Please ensure that your holiday hours and practice information is up to date on Healthpoint.co.nz throughout the summer holiday period. We will be referring people to Healthpoint for testing location information through Ministry communications and the NZ COVID Tracer app. Healthline also uses this resource to refer people to testing sites so it’s important that your hours and services are up to date over the holidays. Testing numbers In addition to this, we are encouraging anyone with cold or flu symptoms to stay at home and get a test. They should continue to stay at home until they have a negative test result, regardless of where they live in New Zealand. Testing numbers have remained consistent, with a minimum of 30,000 and potentially up to 40,000 tests per week, including the mandatory border testing. We expect these numbers to remain consistent but may need to increase up to more than 60,000 tests a week if there is any community transmission over the holiday period. The full current advice for the period ending 27 January 2021 is available here. As always, the assessment and testing for COVID-19 is at no cost to individuals. It’s been an intense year and I’d like to acknowledge the increased workload and pressure that COVID-19 has created for us all. Thank you for your continued support and your efforts throughout the year to ensure that testing has been widely available and accessible throughout the country. Together, we’ve delivered a robust programme of testing nationwide that’s kept our communities and whanau safe. I hope there will be an opportunity to rest your staff and take a well-deserved break. Kind regards, Dr Ashley Bloomfield Director-General of Health Testing Operations | COVID-19 Immunisation, Testing and Supply | Ministry of Health Kia ora koutou We trust this finds you well as we head into the Christmas and New Year period. The Ministry of Health COVID-19 PPE supply chain would like to message all general practices and urgent care facilities that are conducting COVID-19 swabbing to let them know how to source their PPE requirements over the Christmas period. Could you please send the attached email to all the general practices and urgent care facilities that you look after and have on your data base and within your networks. As indicated in the MoH principles of supply, the supply of PPE will be at no cost in Alert Levels 2, 3, and 4 and for swabbing at all levels, however this is not a long term arrangement. All information on the Ministry’s principles of supply can be found on the MoH web site. If you have any questions, please contact the Ministry COVID-19 Health Supply Chain team at: COVID.HealthSupplyChain@health.govt.nz Kind regards, COVID-19 Health Supply Chain Team |
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