NZ back into lockdown.

[Malin52]

1 case in the community. All of NZ back into lockdown Level 4 because no link to border found.

Hard and fast.

There are "positive signs" in the Covid outbreak response but "mystery cases" still pose a challenge, says Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall - amid calls from some experts that lockdown restrictions may need to be tightened.

Health authorities were working to understand all the positive cases and how they were linked, Verrall told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking today. There are currently 53 cases that are unlinked.

Verrall told TVNZ it was good to see only a slight rise in cases in successive days - 82 on Saturday and 83 on Sunday. About half of yesterday's 83 new cases were all household contacts. "All of those are positive signs that level four is working."

Auckland University associate professor Shaun Hendy said if mystery cases couldn't be connected to any known cluster then it would be a concern. However, at this stage it appeared to be a lag in getting information rather than an unsettling development in the outbreak.

(From NZHerald)

Now a feeling that the numbers are looking much better BUT unlinkable cases are the worry.

Good drop in cases today, hopefully will now all trend downwards. The outbreak has been very useful in that it has encouraged vaccination uptake. High demand which is a good problem to have.
I think the problem now might be running out of vaccine until next big delivery. They could see if another country could loan them doses perhaps. I doubt Australia will as they have to keep the ones they have. The U.K. maybe could but politically it would be hard to ask although I am sure Boris would delight in saving the day. Not sure it would go down well with the U.K. public though? We’d probably prefer to see excess doses, if we have them, going to covax rather than NZ.
Could be other European nations that would be willing to loan some if they had doses expiring soon and couldn’t use them up in time. I’d be on the phone to ask.

Good to see trend is looking positive.

Arden has been saying they are going to either have vaccine shortages nationally or have to divert supplies from elsewhere in NZ if they can't secure more supplies or different vaccines soon. Next big supply drop in October.

But yes, demand for vaccine is a good thing. There are calls from South Pacific minorities to be prioritised as they are more vulnerable and their communities seemingly haven't been as well served for vaccine distribution.

Uk has trade interests and now is theoretically in AZ surplus from what I've seen previously.

Hi all! Bit of an update.
A month later. Cases peaked at 90 a day. Back down to about 15-20 a day now all centred in our biggest city (mostly in our biggest city Auckland). All of the country outside of Auckland is back down to level 2 of our lockdown (so everything is open, you just have to scan in and wear masks). Auckland remains in the highest lockdown level for another week. From what I can see we have managed to control delta and stop it spreading astronomically. It seems like our method has worked. We have sadly had one death from this outbreak - an elderly woman in her 90s.

In another positive note, this outbreak has caused our vaccination rates to SOAR. 69% of our eligible population has had at least 1 vaccine, 35% are fully vaccinated!

Also we managed to secure another 750,000 doses from Spain and Sweden or Denmark (I think??) for vaccines

Thats fab! I think when nsw had the outbreak it helped people realise it might be a good idea to get vaccinated!

35% is a good start. If they can get to 80% with suppressing the virus and fairly normal life that would be amazing (and now looking a possibility?)

Yes, it's looking promising at the moment! I think 80% coverage is entirely possible and 12-15 year olds have now been added to the eligible population. There is still a lot of work to be done to convince the vaccine hesitant and the Maori population still lag behind. There's been a noticeable shift this week in messaging towards the vaccine allowing us to open up and abandon the elimination strategy but perhaps government need to be more brutally honest with people about what life will look like for the unvaccinated once borders and restrictions are lifted.

Once they open up, they are not going to be able to suppress the virus like measles, because it's a different kind of virus. There will be an exit wave. Everyone in NZ needs to understand this clearly.

However, looking at the fast rate of vaccination, NZ has a good chance of being able to open up with a relatively manageable exit wave, which will make the transition much easier. Keep on getting jabbed, Kiwis!

Only 13 cases today, feeling hopeful

What's an exit wave @Kokeshi123?

It's usually used to mean the last really big surge of COVID. Once it is over, any future surges are likely to be small as the virus beds down and become endemic with most people having a certain level of immunity going forward.

Without wanting to jinx things, I think Denmark has had their exit wave and is now gradually shifting into the endemic phase. UK, who knows? NZ will have to accept a surge in cases as well, even with high vaccination rates, because the vaccine isn't perfect and there is almost no naturally immunity right now in NZ. However, the final death toll etc will be a lot lower for NZ than for most other countries, I think.