Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says there are 11 new community Covid-19 cases on Friday, all in Auckland.
Bloomfield says 288 of the 879 cases in the current outbreak have now recovered.
He says there are 29 as yet unlinked cases including six from Friday. Of Thursday's 13 cases all are contacts of other cases, with 12 household contacts and just one infectious in the community.
There are 27 people in hospital with Covid-19 of which four are in ICU on ventilators.
There've been 14,181 tests conducted over the past 24 hours with 7,974 of these in Auckland. A total of 61,574 vaccinations were administered on Thursday, of which 46,070 were first doses and 15, 504 second doses.
A person who turned up at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital’s Emergency Department on Thursday tested positive for COVID-19. This person is now in quarantine and being interviewed on Friday, Bloomfield says.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced further resurgence support payments for businesses. The details are below.
Additional Resurgence Support Payments to support business
Businesses affected by higher Alert Levels will be able to apply for further Resurgence Support Payments (RSP).
“The Government’s RSP was initially intended as a one-off payment to help businesses with their fixed costs, such as rent. Ministers have agreed to provide additional payments to recognise the effects of an extended period of alert level restrictions,” Grant Robertson said.
“This will provide cashflow to businesses and support them in meeting their ongoing obligations as we come down Alert Levels and while Auckland remains at higher Alert Levels than the rest of the country.
“Applications for the next RSP will open on Friday 17 September. Ministers have agreed that there will be another two payments after that, three weeks apart, so long as the conditions that trigger the RSP apply.”
“The payment and eligibility criteria to qualify for the RSP remain the same, including that those applying must experience at least a 30 percent decline in revenue over seven days (for this payment commencing 8 September) as a result of being at Alert Level 2 or higher.” David Parker said.
The payment includes a core per business rate of $1,500, plus $400 per employee, up to a total of 50 full-time equivalents (FTEs) which is a maximum payment of $21,500. Businesses with more than 50 FTEs can still apply but cannot get more than the maximum payment.
“The scheme will be available until all of New Zealand returns to Alert Level 1 for one month,” David Parker said.
Inland Revenue encourages those applying to ensure the accuracy of the information they provide, as if it isn’t correct that will delay processing.
“The economy is operating above pre-COVID levels thanks to our strong public health response. These principles will continue to guide our approach to supporting the economy, businesses and workers at this challenging time,” Grant Robertson said.
Businesses can apply for the payment by logging into their MyIR account. Further information can be found on the Inland Revenue website.
For more information on COVID-19 business support measures, including full eligibility criteria:
https://www.ird.govt.nz/covid-
19/business-and-organisations/ sbcs https://www.workandincome.
govt.nz/covid-19/wage-subsidy/ index.html
And here's Friday's Ministry of Health statement.
11 community cases of COVID-19; 6 new cases in managed isolation; 2 historical cases; more than 61,000 vaccines administered yesterday
Media release
10 September 2021
Cases
- Number of new community cases: 11
- Number of new cases identified at the border: Six
- Location of new cases: Auckland
- Location of community cases (total): Auckland 862 (279 of whom have recovered); Wellington 17 (9 of whom have recovered)
- Number of community cases (total): 879 (in current community outbreak)
- Cases infectious in the community: One (8%) of yesterday’s 13 cases have exposure events
- Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infected: 12 (92%) of yesterday’s 13 cases
- Cases epidemiologically linked: Five of today’s cases
- Cases to be epidemiologically linked: Six of today’s cases
- Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 850 (in current cluster) (29 unlinked)
- Number of sub-clusters: Eight epidemiologically linked subclusters. The two largest subclusters are the Mangere church group: 374; and Birkdale social network cluster: 76.
- And nine epidemiologically unlinked subclusters.
- Cases in hospital: 27 (total): North Shore (5); Middlemore (11); Auckland (11)
- Cases in ICU or HDU: Four
- Confirmed cases (total): 3,510 since pandemic began
- Historical cases, since 1 Jan 2021 (total): 136 out of 1,692 since 1 Jan 2021
Contacts
- Number of contacts identified (total): 38,061
- Percentage who have received outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 87%
- Percentage with at least one test result: 92%
Locations of interest
- Locations of interest (total): 127 (as at 10am 10 September)
Tests
- Number of tests (total): 3,114,087
- Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 14,181
- Tests in Auckland (last 24 hours): 7,974
- Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 11,035
- Testing centres in Auckland: 23
Wastewater
- Wastewater detections: No unexpected detections in past 24 hours
COVID-19 vaccine update
- Vaccines administered to date (total): 4,163,418; 1st doses: 2,758,597; 2nd doses: 1,404,821
- Vaccines administered yesterday (total): 61,574; 1st doses: 46,070; 2nd doses: 15,504
- Māori: 1st doses: 255,691; 2nd doses: 123,473
- Pacific Peoples: 1st doses: 163,065; 2nd doses: 83,933
NZ COVID-19 tracer
- Registered users (total): 3,193,338
- Poster scans (total): 347,007,730
- Manual diary entries (total): 15,873,043
- Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday: 2,548,509
There may be some delays in providing data in some instances. On these occasions we will use data from the day before and clearly note this.
105 Comments
It's hard to tell. When they announce the cases at 1pm they haven't had long to trace, and so some are unlinked (even close contacts). The question is if they've found the link in the next day or so. For example, yesterday's announcement had a bunch of unlinked cases, but they've all turned out to be linked.
So you're just saying level 4 but with some elements of level 3?
I think level 3 and 4 are so similar anyway that it'll create confusion (since there's no existing documentation, like there wasn't for delta level 2 and everyone complained) and is probably not really reducing risk that much compared to just level 3 anyway.
I don't see the point in the levels. They (the govt) have never followed them. Even now Auckland should be in L2, and the rest of the country should probably be in L1 based on the official risk assessments: About the Alert System | Unite against COVID-19 (covid19.govt.nz).
Essentially we have three levels.
1. (L4) Lockdown (although not really because almost 1.5mil were deemed as essential)
2. (L2) Open domestically with Masks
3. (L1) Open domestically without masks
4. Open internationally.
Level 3 is garbage. Schools are effectively shut, yet workplaces are effectively open. That is the sort of logic only academics and economists could come up with.
The levels are fine and make sense.
The supposed risk assessment scale with its little 5-word sentences is rubbish and has never been followed in any meaningful way. Cabinet has always taken in a broad swathe of data when making alert level decisions, and trying to boil it down to a dozen words or less is stupid. I've talked about that before on interest.co.nz.
Interesting. You often reference official govt comms. Imploring people to read them, refer to them, and trust them, because they are the truth. Yet this absolute vital component, the fundamental policy managing all levels of our internal response is stupid and bares no resemblance to any actual decision.
If our Government cannot write and articulate the required info to allow the entire country to plan and live their lives, then they are simply not fit to govern.
You often reference official govt comms.
Yes, and I criticise them when they deserve criticism. Most of the criticism people level at the government is unwarranted, and I say that too.
This should not be a surprise to anyone, except the people who think I'm somehow on Labour or the government's payroll, which as I have said many times is not the case.
Yet this absolute vital component, the fundamental policy managing all levels of our internal response is stupid and bares no resemblance to any actual decision.
Because this isn't the actual "absolute vital component".
It's messaging that someone in the government created because they thought it was necessary or would make the public feel at ease if there was 'some guidance' as to how alert levels work. Precisely because this guidance does not even closely mirror what the government actually does, I think it is harmful and would be better off with nothing.
If our Government cannot write and articulate the required info to allow the entire country to plan and live their lives, then they are simply not fit to govern.
No, because the actual decision making process draws in a vast swathe of information and cannot be accurately distilled into a dozen words or less.
Criticise the government all you like for having these silly descriptions - I do. I similarly criticise them for the supposed rules framework they put out with the trans-tasman bubble, with red, orange and green traffic light signals. They basically never followed those rules either.
It is actually good that the government hasn't published cute little lists easily digestable by the public and then slavishly tried to stick by them, because that would be moronic.
No, because the actual decision making process draws in a vast swathe of information and cannot be accurately distilled into a dozen words or less.
Who said it had to be in 12 words of less? They are happy to prattle on for hours each day at 1pm Jacinda time (which is about 20 minutes behind the rest of NZ) so I don't think being concise is a concern.
But I digress, I wonder what I can come up with in 5 minutes.
- Level 4 - An active case in the community of unknown origin. (9 words)
- Level 3 - No active community cases and/or known community cases in isolation (11 words)
- Level 2 - No active cases in the community. (6 words)
- Level 1 - No cases in the community. (5 words)
- Level 0 - No known cases globally. (4 words)
Level 3 was a bit tight, but hey I don't have a team of policy experts behind me. So perhaps I could have done better with some assistance.
Any competent Government would not find this hard.
It is actually good that the government hasn't published cute little lists easily digestable by the public and then slavishly tried to stick by them, because that would be moronic.
What is Moronic is failing to be able to articulate anything meaningful to the voters, let alone do what you tell them.
Your definitions don't match reality either, sorry.
What is Moronic is failing to be able to articulate anything meaningful to the voters, let alone do what you tell them.
The government has articulated plenty of meaningful things to me. I think if you're struggling understanding what the government has been saying, that's on you.
You got me... try as I might, I struggle to understand the Govts answers for even the simplest of questions, and I have searched far and wide for answers. Perhaps you could enlighten me, given you clearly have a better understanding that I could ever hope to achieve.
What conditions need to be met to go into and out of lockdown?
When do we stop lockdowns? Does it require a percentage vaccinated? if so what percentage?
What needs to be done to enable overseas travel?
Why does Covid absolve all other ministers of responsibility for their portfolios, for example...
- Why has the housing minister continued to let housing prices run rampant?
- Why has the self proclaimed minister of child poverty allowed child poverty to increase?
- Why has the health minister not done more to prepare the Hospitals? (for reference NSW added over 600 ICU beds over the past 18 months in direct response to any possible Covid incursion)
- What is the Energy Minister doing to stop our failing electrical network?
What conditions need to be met to go into and out of lockdown?
It's based on the risk profile of what COVID looks like in the community.
When do we stop lockdowns?
When enough of the population is vaccinated (or new effective treatments are avialable) such that COVID outbreaks won't result in our health system being overhwhelmed.
Does it require a percentage vaccinated? if so what percentage?
As high a percentage as possible, however there is a not a single number for this, because it depends on many factors, for example if there are geographic locations or groups of people (particularly if they're vulnerable) that have lower vaccination rates than the average, then lockdowns might still be used until the vaccination rates in those communities / groups are at the same, or much closer to, the average vaccination rate within the country as a whole.
What needs to be done to enable overseas travel?
You are free to leave the country whenever you want. It has never been restricted.
Why does Covid absolve all other ministers of responsibility for their portfolios, for example...
These are political questions and based on your opinion, not factual questions about NZ's COVID response.
Given the precedent of previous history by this government’s strategy, and that the lockdown is at least dampening down, if not quite containing the outbreak, what would then be the logic of doing a 180 on all of that to incur the risk of the virus doing a 180 too? Bit like walking away from an extinguished forest fire without attending to the hot spots.
Yeah I really don't know what they're going to do. I mean ideally we'd have 0 new cases over the weekend and on Monday, but that's very unlikely.
However if the only cases over the weekend and Monday are household contacts, or if they get some non-household contact cases but they were not infectious in the community, then moving to level 3 on Tuesday midnight could still happen.
Or they might just stay in level 4 until midnight Thursday for example.
Only 1 new case from yesterday was infectious while in the community.
The net is drawing tighter and tighter, which is exactly what we want and shows we are now on top of this outbreak, and we just have to sustain from here and not get any unlucky super-spreader events, or a chain of transmission where no one gets tested despite the public message to get tested if you have symptoms.
level 4 for the rest of the month, get used to it Auckland. Hopefully if people stay home this weekend you will be down to single digit cases next week. People need to be given a goal to work towards, not constant extensions. Give the people a Friday 1st October date to go to level 3 if case numbers drop to zero before then. Level 3 for 1 week then go to level 2 with mask wearing the new normal but otherwise open up.
I look at international media to get a view of what overseas was like. And also talking to people who have returned to NZ from being overseas and "sheltering in place" for 12+ months as advised by the governments there. And also talking to people who live overseas about what it's like for them.
I'm sure there are some people in NZ who are judging it purely based on NZ domestic media.
Can you point me in the direction of some of these "hysterical fear-mongers" and what they are trying to "have everyone think".
Once I know specifically what you're talking about, I'll tell you if I "know that it wasn't anywhere near as bad" as what they're saying.
This link shows how restricted the world has been over time, https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-lockdowns/ overall NZ looks like it has had it easy in comparison so far.
Nice little link from the Herald, are you vacced Brocky???
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/covid-19-coronavirus-unvaxxed-womans-h…
I think he's got opinions, we all do otherwise we wouldn't spend so much time in the comments section of interest.co.nz lol.
I think being a young healthy family and sailing through it is great though. Just wouldn't necessarily extrapolate that experience to mean that we open the borders immediately and everyone can fend for themselves regardless of health and vaccination status.
Thanks, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Kiwis lap up this crap from The Herald, Stuff and Jacinda's politics of fear schtick then start spouting garbage.
It's not reflective of the real world when you focus on the very worst things that happen to a very small subset of people.
I have natural immunity and vaccination. Why?
Is it normal for a woman like that to die of the flu though? Pre-covid it certainly wasn't. So it is news, I agree the story is a bit dramatic but factually I am about her age with a lowered immune system due to pregnancy, and an in law family full of nutter antivaxxers who told me I would miscarry if I got the vaccination. If I just couldn't be bothered with the drama I might think I'm alright, don't need the vaccine. But I read stories like this and I think, this could get me too. I will get the vaccine.
Indeed, if there is one thing that makes Labour party enthusiasts squirm it's being held to any kind of specific goals or deadlines.
Opening up is going to go the same way as kiwibuild, light rail, house prices, immigration cuts and every other load of crap they lie about.
NZ media is absolute waste of ones precious lifetime. Dumbed down tabloidean and presenters all with a south Auckland accent aimed at the lowest joe blow.
I haven’t watched it in a long time.
Probably this website is the closest I’ll get to it now.
BBC iplayer is a life changer.
The facts being referred to in this case is the level of lockdown around the world, using the Oxford lockdown stringency index. The link to these facts was provided above.
If you look at the facts, you will see the fact is over the last 18 months, NZ has had cumulatively less stringent lockdowns than pretty much any other developed country in the world.
The data is produced by Oxford university. It doesn't have anything to do with the Labour party. If the Labour party are talking about facts, then I think that's a good thing.
For most of 2020 you'd be comparing your overseas life to essentially complete freedom in NZ.
My parents are in in UK in their 70s and in pretty good health. They spend the majority of 2020 barely leaving the house except the occasional supermarket trip and the allotment. It's only in the last few months they've ventured outside. If they were in NZ, they'd have had an extra year or so of freedom.
My sister was in France and spent months in their apartment with two small children. My brother similarly in the UK. I'm not sure where you were, but NZ stacks up very nicely compared to the vast, vast majority of the world.
In many ways I had more freedom. During 2020 I went on summer vacations to several European countries while NZ was locked up behind closed borders. I was able to hang out with friends at the park and go out to pubs and restaurants in London and live a fairly normal life for most parts of the year.
The narrative that everybody was locked inside their house and too terrified to walk out the front door is completely false.
The narrative that everybody was locked inside their house and too terrified to walk out the front door is completely false.
Yes, a lot of people disregarded public health advice and ended up dead as a result.
A lot of people disregarded public health advice and ended up having to go to hospital, and in some countries rack up huge hospital bills.
A lot of people disregarded public health advice and ended up with long COVID.
A lot of people disregarded public health advice and had the worst weeks of their lives with COVID.
A lot of people disregarded public health advice and got COVID and it wasn't too bad for them.
A lot of people disregarded public health advice and got COVID and didn't know it.
A lot of people disregarded public health advice and luckily did not catch COVID.
I don't think anyone is saying "everyone" was locked inside their house and too terrified to walk out of the front door. Except for you with the strawman you just created.
I'm simply pointing out that the media and the government in this country have pushed a fear-mongering narrative that has terrified a lot of people into being irrationally hysterical about this virus.
I can only imagine how terrible it must be to be so invested in this warped reality that you feel compelled to attack anyone who refutes it.
That's your interpretation of what's been going on. Can't say I've noticed lots of "terrified" people about or them being "irrationally hysterical". Most people seem to just get on with it without too much fuss.
And as a reader of news sites from around the world I'd say here was pretty tame by comparison. Try the Daily Mail in the UK if you want hysteria and fear mongering everyday. They flip from "were are all gonna die" to "it's all just bad flu" within a few articles on the same day. And some of the US ones are even worse
That narrative was largely true for my parents. There were a couple of brief respites where they could do things like book a walk at a National Trust property, follow the prescribed path around the grounds and keep their distance from the next scheduled walkers.
It is a fact that kids were kept out of school in the UK and France (I expect most other countries too) which seriously limited my sibling's abilities to work. They could go out, sure, but nowhere near the extent that I could. I was embarrassed talking to them about the packed sweaty gigs with hundreds of people I'd been going to, the nights at the pub just like normal, the dinners out, the skiing. None of this was available to them.
It's good you presumably aren't in an at-risk cohort and you could enjoy the park (no doubt with numbers limited and prescribed distances) and pubs (no doubt masked, with fewer tables than normal, likely outside seating only most of last year). Not everyone could, or did.
There is only one way you had more freedom - open borders. That's the price we paid for otherwise complete freedom. NZ is a beautiful country to holiday in, so the only hardship was not visiting my family. But that's barely relevant either - my brother lives an hour away by train and didn't visit them for a year for fear of spreading the disease. My nieces and nephews didn't see their grandparents for a year.
Anybody else confused as to why 'the experts' are breaking the rules and getting away with it 🤔 Is it not as serious as what they are preaching?
https://thebfd.co.nz/2021/09/10/siouxsie-wiles-beach-buddy-revealed/?ut…
Yes, and Cam Slater is an idiot because that's a mis-direction to what the rules under level 4 actually say. You can read them right here: https://covid19.govt.nz/assets/resources/tables/Detailed-table-of-COVID…
Stay in your immediate household bubble. If you live alone you may join another household bubble, but it must be exclusive.
He is specifically quoting the caregiver provision. There is a broader bubble-merging arrangement that is not specific to the caregiver provision.
Jacinda Ardern talked about it when the country went into level 4, saying that an individual can join another household bubble, so long as the arrangement is totally exclusive of any other bubble merging.
That is what the alert level 4 rules say.
The caregiver arrangement is allowed in addition to the merged household bubble arrangement.
To quote Joe Biden "C'mon man".
She has spent the last 18 or so months demanding that we all mask up, avoid contact during outbreaks etc, and then goes and does this ... this is just poor form whichever way you cut it.
Even if the law says it's ok - and we all know that 'technically correct is the best kind of correct' - what kind of message does this send to others who are supposed to be complying?
I understand you are on the government payroll so are required to post these kinds of comments, but even you must surely see the hypocrisy here.
How hard would it have been for her just to put on a mask? Or to sit just a bit further away?
Practice as you preach, basically.
I didn't realise it extended to maskless frolicking on the beach.
Merged household bubbles allow for exercise and recreation together, which includes frolicking on the beach if that beach is local, and the frolicking is kept socially distanced from others using the beach.
I'm not on the government pay roll and never have been.
Masks are not required outdoors.
No, not confused at all, because they aren't breaking the rules at all. Cam Slater is just an idiot.
Here's what Alert level 4 says:
Stay at home, other than for permitted essential personal movement and providing Alert Level 4 services. Stay in your immediate household bubble. If you live alone you may join another household bubble, but it must be exclusive.
https://covid19.govt.nz/assets/resources/tables/Detailed-table-of-COVID…
Siouxsie and Nicola are clearly obeying a level 4 allowance for household bubbles to be combined when they consist of single people.
Sitting on the beach is not swimming.
An e-bike does not pose any risk beyond a regular bicycle, so long as it's used on regular streets in the same manner as a regular bicycle, ie she's not hooning around doing stunts due to it being an e-bike.
Unfortunately for National that just sums up their leader’s inability to present herself as a personable and polished Prime Minister of any potential. A well qualified and successful lawyer but without much tact nor much nous in articulating an argument, it’s more than enigmatic, it’s downright bizarre.
Wow.
So you can bike to the beach, 5km - quite a distance, and hang out there without masks?
I don't have a bike, so can I drive to the beach 5km away and hang out there without a mask? I am a bit over staying at home and walking around the block.
I will do it this weekend.
After all the fuss and pandemonium of levels and shutting up businesses in Aug//Sept ….
Then NZ will have a new outbreak in November and start the cycle again.
Then in February
And so on.
All that will be left soon are Govt departments, Universities,Schools, supermarkets, etc all cycling govt money around
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