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Category: Public health

  • Weaponising COVID-19

    COVID-19 proves to be a boon and a bane for Prayuth Chan-ocha, Thailand’s strongman prime minister and the former junta leader. His incompetent response has resulted in a popularity slump and booming protests. Yet, similar to other authoritarian governments, COVID-19 allows Prayuth’s government a pretext to control the populace. However, the Prayuth regime goes further than its peers to weaponise COVID-19 against dissidents.

    The pandemic inevitably requires more restriction to rights and liberties. Governments may mandate facial masks and social distancing. It must ban gatherings, including political ones, and discourage commuting. Privacy is compromised so the government can track and trace patients. In sum, COVID-19 demands a more authoritarian governance. Unfortunately, the authoritarian government of Prayuth is too ready to exploit the opportunity.

    COVID-19 arrived just in time to quell budding protests across the country. In February 2020, mass gatherings began to spawn as a reaction to the Constitutional Court’s dissolution of Future Forward Party, a maverick opposition party. By March, as cases soared, the government invoked the 2005 Emergency Decree to impose a lockdown, but protesters had already dispersed even before the announcement of the emergency situation. However, COVID-19 only bought Prayuth some time. Poor management of COVID-19 resulted in economic havoc. Frustrated, protests re-emerged as soon as COVID-19 subsided in mid-July.

    The 2020 Protest posed an existential threat to the Thai state. Tens of thousands of angry protesters demanded reform of all the major pillars of Thainess, e.g. the monarchy and the military. The government of Prayuth Chan-ocha has enlisted every available weapon to fight back, including COVID-19.

    Prayuth has never lifted the emergency law, which forbids public gathering. Violation could lead up to 2 years imprisonment or 40,000 THB fine, or both. Several by-laws are issued to affirm the prohibition. At a protest site, it became a ritual for police to read a warning according to the Emergency Decree prior to the protest. When making an arrest, violation of emergency decree is always added to the list of offences. Surprisingly, no COVID-19 has been reported from these protests. Most participants wore masks, partly to prevent COVID-19, but more importantly to prepare for tear gas and avoid identification.

    In 2020, COVID-19 was simply a pretext to restrict Thais’ freedom of assembly and political expression. It annoyed many protesters but never became a real threat. All that changed in 2021, when the government launched an offensive. Police began to charge pro-democratic activists, mainly with lese majeste, but also other offences such as treason. The court no longer showed leniency. Bail was categorically denied. By February 2021, most key leaders were in prison.

    The Presidents of the Supreme Court have issued several guidelines and recommendations on granting bail or temporary release in order to reduce the risk of COVID19 infection. However, it was obvious that, in such political cases, judges did not heed the advice.

    Thai prisons are notorious for their appalling conditions. The incarceration rate ranks one of the world’s highest. A prison is crowded and personal hygiene is nil. Most importantly, communication to and from the outside world is tightly controlled. All of these factors make a prison a fertile ground for COVID-19.

    During COVID-19, the Correctional Department imposed even more severe restriction upon inmates. Only an attorney could visit them. Relatives, let alone supporters, were not allowed. Even at the court room, prison guards made sure that parents would not be able to touch or talk to these political prisoners. This extra treatment seemed more like a form of psychological torture than COVID-19 prevention.

    Upon arrival, Anon Nampa, one of the protest leaders, notified his attorney that, in the dead of night, officers tried to take political prisoners out of their cells. They claimed to be conducting a COVID-19 test but prisoners were concerned that they might be tricked into something more serious. According to rumours, some activists were on the kill lists of the power that be. Death in detention is a not a paranoid imaginary but a real and present possibility.

    By mid-April, Thailand was struck with its worst wave of COVID-19. New cases rose to hundreds daily. Despite claims of safety, COVID-19 finally hit the prison system. One by one, political prisoners tested positive. While supporters pleaded that the court should consider granting their leaders bail to lessen crowding in a prison and allow them access to proper medical treatment, the court proved indifferent. One by one, political prisoners were forced to surrender to the court’s term in order to get bail. The court imposed an obligation not to participate in any other protests, criticise the monarchy or instigate disorder. Basically, they must no longer lead protests, although they had yet to be tried or convicted of such offences. But the ordeal was far from over. Some prisons, such as Panassaya ‘Rung’ Sitthijirawattanakun, was later found positive. Her mother and sister tested positive and were hospitalised. Other activists, supporters, and human rights lawyers also contracted COVID-19 from their freed friends and clients. One elder activist, ‘Song’ Sakchai Tangchitsadudee, spent months in ICU. Luckily, no one died.

    Eventually, some of these activists defied the court’s order and returned to protest. The 2021 protests turned more serious and confrontational. Police openly expressed hostility but people were more furious too. Lockdown continued indefinitely. The economy worsened and hospitals reached maximum capacity. People began to die in the streets. The government intensified its effort to spread misinformation to discourage protests. Fake accounts began circulating claiming to have caught COVID-19 from participating in mobs.

    By August, the court revoked bails for these activists, and denied bail for a few more. Police pressed new charges. They are back in jail. They are subject to 14-day quarantine that would not allow even an attorney a visit. Clearly this rule violates an inmate’s constitutional right to fair trial. Within the first week, some of the political prisoners, notably Parit Chivarak, or Penguin, had contracted COVID-19. Despite the Correctional Department’s denial, it is clear that the pandemic in a prison is very pervasive. Prison warders also caught COVID-19 and a defence attorney again got COVID-19. The prison refused a referral to an outside hospital, insisting on sending patients to a prison hospital which is known to be substandard.

    How bad is the prison situation? The Ministry of Justice released very little information to the public but it is clear that the Correctional Department is unable to provide adequate healthcare for such crisis.

    All of this does not mean the government deliberately devises COVID-19 as a weapon to neutralize protest leaders. The court hopefully does not wish these rebellious defendants dead. But the court’s indifference to injustice and its blind following of its superior’s order not to grant bail to lese majeste accusees, together with the prison’s awful pre-existing conditions, make COVID-19 a potent weapon to silence an angry public and perpetuate the authoritarian government of Prayuth Chan-ocha. Any sensible person can see that such a combination amounts to inhumane punishment or torture, which is forbidden in section 28 of the Thai Constitution. But what redress is left available to the activists, since the judiciary is working alongside the government and the police to defeat the protest? Some judges probably have blood on their hands.

    The post Weaponising COVID-19 appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Ardern confirms NZ lockdown moves – drop to 53 new covid community cases

    RNZ News

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says if New Zealand had not moved into lockdown, daily case numbers could have been around 550.

    Cabinet has confirmed that all of New Zealand south of Auckland will move to level 3 from 11.59pm on Tuesday night.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today this would be for at least a week, to be reviewed by Cabinet next week.

    Northland will likely join the rest of the country at alert level three from 11:59pm on Thursday, Ardern says.

    Cabinet has also confirmed Auckland will remain at alert level four until September 14. Cabinet will consider next steps for the region on September 13.

    Ardern said level 4 “is making a difference”.

    “The job is not yet done and we do need to keep going.”

    53 new community cases
    Earlier, the Ministry of Health reported there were 53 new covid-19 cases in the community today – a significant drop from the last days with new cases in the 80s.

    In a statement, the ministry said all 53 cases were in Auckland.

    The total number of community cases in Auckland is now 547 and in Wellington it is 15, bringing the total number of active cases in the community outbreak to 562.

    For Auckland and Northland, Ardern said cases in Warkworth were found late in the lockdown and were not equivalent to the cases in Wellington, where cases were monitored and did not appear to have spread.

    “We just haven’t had that level of time for the cases we’re concerned about in Warkworth, and with possible contacts beyond. Once we have that same level of reassurance in Northland we feel safe to move alert levels,” she said.

    Ardern said the government was awaiting test results from wastewater in Northland, and tests from people who were at locations of interest. If they all came back clear Northland could move to alert level 3 at 11.59 pm on Thursday.

    “Just an indication here if all those tests come back clear,” she said.

    Ardern said that if New Zealand had not moved into alert level 4, estimates of the number of new cases today could have been about 550.

    Prime minister Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield hold the Post Cabinet Covid 19 lockdown update in the Beehive Theatrette.
    The red line on this graph represents what New Zealand case numbers would look like if the country had not moved into lockdown, says the prime minister. Image: RNZ/Robert Kitchin /Stuff/Pool

    ‘The more we limit …’
    “The more we do to limit our contact, the faster we will exit these restrictions,” Ardern said.

    “Auckland is doing a huge service for all of us. And not just now, but throughout this pandemic. It’s Auckland that has maintained our gateway to the world, that has done a lot of the heavy lifting in welcoming Kiwis home safely, that has worked hard to keep Kiwis safe when there has been an outbreak. Auckland has done it tough.”

    Ardern said the government was considering further restrictions under level 4 to prevent transmission occurring at the workplace.

    “It is a privilege to be open at level 4,” she said.

    Vaccine supply
    Asked about supply of vaccines, Ardern said decisions would need to be made this week about whether New Zealand could continue to scale up vaccine delivery beyond what the government had initially planned.

    She said New Zealand had about 840,000 doses of the vaccine in the country, and had been receiving about 350,000 each week.

    “Our planning has been for the programme to administer 350,000 doses per week. We have the supply and infrastructure to do this sustainably over a long period of time.”

    There had been an increase in demand, she said, and the government was working to reach that but falling short would merely mean falling back to the government’s earlier plans.

    “If we are unable to do this then the worst-case scenario is we pull back to our planned volumes … contrary to the reporting, we are not running out of vaccine.”

    Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall has slammed Bay of Plenty District Health Board (DHB) after it asked Pacific people to show their passports at covid-19 vaccination appointments.

    The DHB apologised last night over the move, acknowledging it was not the DHB’s policy, nor a requirement, and that it had affected trust and confidence with its Pacific communities.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • New covid book exposes global media bias, racism and stigmatisation

    REVIEW: By Krishan Dutta

    While the covid-19 pandemic’s relentless cyclone continues across the globe wreaking havoc on economies and social systems, this book sheds light on the adversarial reporting culture of the media, and how it impacts on racism and politicisation driving the coverage.

    It explores the global response to the covid-19 pandemic, and the role of national and international media, and governments, in the initial coverage of the developing crisis.

    With specific chapters written mostly by scholars living in these countries, Covid-19, Racism and Politicization: Media in the Midst of a Pandemic examines how the media in Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the United States have responded to the pandemic, and highlights issues specific to these countries, such as racism, Sinophobia, media bias, stigmatisation of victims and conspiracy theories.

    This book explores how the covid-19 coverage developed over the year 2020, with special focus given to the first six months of the year when the reporting trends were established.

    The introductory chapter points out that the media deserve scrutiny for their role in the day-to-day coverage that often focused on adversarial issues and not on solutions to help address the biggest global health crisis the world has seen for more than a century.

    In chapter 2, co-editor Dr Kalinga Seneviratne, former head of research at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) takes a comprehensive look at how the blame game developed in the international media with a heavy dose of Sinophobia, and how between March and June 2020 a global propaganda war developed.

    He documents how conspiracy theories from both the US and China developed after the virus started spreading in the US and points out some interesting episodes that happened in the US in 2019 that may have vital relevance for the investigation of the origins of the virus.

    Attacks on WHO
    The attacks on the World Health Organisation (WHO), particularly by the former Trump administration, are well documented with a timeline of how WHO worked on investigating the virus in its early stages with information provided from China.

    The chapter also discusses the racism that underpinned the propaganda war, especially from the West, which led to the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s controversial call for an “independent” inquiry into the origins of the pandemic that riled China.

    Researcher Kalinga Seneviratne
    Co-author Kalinga Seneviratne … the book highlights pandemic issues such as racism, Sinophobia, media bias, stigmatisation of victims and conspiracy theories. Image: IDN-News

    “The covid-19 pandemic has exposed the inadequacies and inequalities of the globalised world. In an information-saturated society, it has also laid bare many political economy issues especially credibility of news, dangers of misinformation, problems of politicisation, lack of media literacy, and misdirected government policy priorities,” argues co-editor Sundeep Muppidi, professor of communications at the University of Hartford in the US.

    “This book explores the implications of some of these issues, and the government response, in different societies around the world in the initial periods of the pandemic.”

    In chapter 3, Muppidi examines specifically the US media coverage of covid-19 and he explores the “othering” of the blame related to failures and non-performances from politicians, governments and media networks themselves.

    Yun Xiao and Radika Mittal, writing about a study they have done on the coverage in The New York Times during the early months of the covid-19 pandemic, argue that unsubstantiated criticism of governance measures, lack of nuance and absence of alternative narratives is indicative of a media ideology that strengthens and embeds the process of “othering”.

    Ankuran Dutta and Anupa Goswani from Gauhati University in Assam, India, analyse the coverage of the covid-19 crisis in five Indian newspapers using 10 key words. They argue that the Indian media coverage could be seen as what constitutes “Sinophobia” with some mainstream media even calling it the “Wuhan Virus”.

    Historical background
    They trace the historical background to India’s anti-China nationalism, and show how it has been reflected in the covid-19 coverage, especially after India became one of the world’s hotspots.

    “This Sinophobia hasn’t much impacted on the government policy; rather it has tightened its nationalist sentiments promoting Indian vaccines over the Chinese.” They say the Indian media’s Sinophobia has abated after the delta variant hit India.

    “The narrative concerning covid-19 has taken a sharp turn bringing out the loopholes of the government’s inability to sustain its vigilance against the virus,” he notes, adding, ‘considering the global phobia concerning the delta variant put India in a tight spot and India has to defend itself from its newfound identity of being the primary source of this seemingly untameable variant.”

    Zhang Xiaoying from the Beijing Foreign Studies University and Martin Albrow from the University of Wales explain what they call the “Moral Foundation of the Cooperative Spirit” in chapter 4.

    Drawing on Chinese philosophical traditions—Confucianism, Daoism and Mohism—they argue that the “cooperative spirit” enshrined in these philosophies is reflected in the Chinese media’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stages. Taking examples from the Chinese media—Xinhua, China Daily, Global Times and CGTN—they emphasise that the Chinese media has promoted international cooperation rather than indulge in blame games or politicising the issue.

    This chapter provides a good insight into Chinese thinking when it comes to journalism.

    Chapters on Sri Lanka and New Zealand examine how positive coverage in the local media of the governments’ initially successful handling of the covid-19 pandemic has contributed to emphatic election victories for the ruling parties.

    Hit on NZ media industry
    David Robie, founding director of Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre, explains in his chapter how New Zealand’s magazine sector was devastated by the pandemic lockdowns and economic downturn, although enterprising buy-outs and start-ups contributed to a recovery.

    He points out that a year later, in April 2021, Media Minister Kris Faafoi, himself a former journalist, announced a NZ$50 million plan to help the media industry deal with its huge drop in income, because, as he says, Facebook and Google were instrumental in drawing advertising revenue away from local media players.

    The chapter from Bangladesh offers a depressing picture of the social issues that came up as the virus spread, such as the stigmatisation and rejection of returning migrant worker who have for years provided for families back home, and how old people were abandoned by their families when they were suspected of having contacted the virus.

    The chapter gives a clear illustration of how the adversarial reporting culture of the media impacts negatively on the community and its social fabrics.

    But, the chapter’s author, Shameem Reza, communications lecturer at Dhaka University, says that when the second outbreak started in March 2021, he observed a shift in the media coverage of covid-19 pandemic.

    Now, the stories are more about harassment and discrimination, such as migrant workers facing hurdles to access vaccine; uncertainty over confirming air tickets and flights for their return; and facing risk of losing jobs and becoming unemployed. Thus, now the media coverage particularly includes ordinary peoples’ suffering.

    Reza believes that the initial stigmatisation of victims, had influenced social media coverage of harassment, and “changed agendas in the public sphere”.

    Lack of skills, knowledge
    The authors argue in the chapter on the Philippines that the covid-19 coverage exposed the “lack of skills and knowledge in reporting on health issues”. Said a senior newspaper editor, “in the past, whenever there were training opportunities on science or health reporting, we’d send the young reporters to give them the chance to go out of the newsroom. Now we know we should have sent editors and senior reporters.”

    In the concluding chapter, Seneviratne and Muppidi discuss various social and economic issues that should be the focus of the coverage as the world recovers from the covid-19 pandemic that reflects the inequalities around the world. These include not only vaccine rollouts, but also the vulnerability of migrant labour and their rights, the plight of casual labour in the so-called “gig economy”, priority for investments on health services, the power of Big Tech and many others.

    This book is an attempt to raise the voices of the “Global South” in discussing the media’s role in the coverage of the covid-19 crisis, explain Seneviratne and Muppidi, pointing out that there cannot be a return to the “normal” when that is full of inequalities that have been exposed by the pandemic.

    “There are many issues that the media should be mindful of in reporting the inevitable recovery from the covid-19 pandemic in 2021 and beyond.”

    Krishan Dutta is a freelance journalist writing for IDN – News (In-Depth News). An earlier version of this review was first published by IDN-News under the title “New book explores how adversarial reporting culture drives politicised covid-19 coverage and this version is republished from Pacific Journalism Review.

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘You’re not alone’, PM Ardern tells lockdown nation on mental health

    RNZ News

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke at today’s 1pm press conference about the importance of mental health and support services in the community during New Zealand’s delta covid-19 outbreak.

    “Having positive cases in our communities, along with the impact of lockdowns I know can be hugely unsettling, and that uncertainty can impact on everyone’s mental health,” she said.

    “It’s OK to feel overwhelmed, to feel upset or even to feel frustrated, because this situation is often all of those things. But there are places you can go for support and help, even while you’re living with restrictions.”

    The Ministry of Health and Unite Against Covid websites have a list of resources, Ardern said.

    “These include tools targeted at young people, who may be finding this time challenging, in particular those isolating in hostels or halls of residence.”

    Calls to health services and use of online services have risen during lockdown.

    “We know for instance that early on in the lockdown there was a spike in calls to Youthline,” Ardern said, and the government has since boosted their funding by $275,000.

    Extra $1m for community health projects
    An additional $1 million in funding was announced today by Health Minister Andrew Little for community projects to support youth mental health in Auckland and Northland.

    Ardern listed several different helplines available (see full RNZ list).

    “There is also targeted mental health support available to Pacific Communities via a dedicated 0800 number: 0800 OLA LELEI 0800-652-535,” Ardern said.

    Episodes of family violence have been reported during lockdown around the country.

    “Family violence and sexual violence services are considered essential services and are continuing to operate at level 4,” Ardern said.

    “If you feel you’re in an unsafe environment, you do not need to stay in your home or in your bubble. If you’re not safe at home you can leave your bubble. If you feel in danger, call 111.

    “If you or someone you know is in danger and it is not safe to talk, police have the silent solution, phone 111 and if you do not speak you’ll get the option of pressing 55, you can then listen carefully to the call-taker’s questions and instructions so they can arrange assistance for you.”

    Central Auckland on Wednesday 25 August 2021 on the eighth today of a Covid-19 lockdown.
    Central Auckland on Day 8 of the lockdown. Image: John Edens/RNZ

    There is also support for those struggling to access food.

    “Yesterday we announced an additional $7 million for food security networks operating at alert level 4. The additional funding will help with the distribution of an additional 60,000 food parcels, and 10,000 wellbeing packs,” Ardern said.

    83 community cases
    There have been 83 new community cases of covid-19 reported in New Zealand today.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said 82 of the new cases are in Auckland, with one new case in Wellington. The Wellington case was a close contact of an existing case, and was in isolation with no exposure in the community while infectious.

    Dr Bloomfield said 34 people are now in New Zealand hospitals with the coronavirus, including two people in ICU. All are in a stable condition.

    Three of those cases are in North Shore Hospital, 18 in Middlemore Hospital, 13 in Auckland City Hospital, while one is in Wellington Regional Hospital. Dr Bloomfield said the hospitalisation rate in this outbreak is 6-7 percent which is higher than previous outbreaks.

    The total number of confirmed cases associated with the Auckland outbreak is now 511 – 496 in Auckland and 15 in Wellington.

    Dr Bloomfield said more than 60 percent of cases are under 30.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ reports 82 new community covid cases – total now 429

    RNZ Pacific

    New Zealand has 82 new community cases of covid-19 today, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.

    There was no media conference from the government today. In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there were now 429 cases linked to the Auckland outbreak.

    All of today’s new cases were in Auckland. There have now been 415 cases in Auckland and 14 in Wellington connected to the current community outbreak.

    The ministry said 376 cases had now been clearly epidemiologically linked to another case or sub-cluster, with another 53 for which links are yet to be fully established.

    There was one new case in managed isolation reported today.

    * Follow all the latest developments with RNZ’s live blog here

    There are now 23 people with covid-19 in Auckland’s hospitals, including two in ICU. The Health Ministry said all of the cases were in a stable condition.

    One case is in North Shore Hospital, 11 are in Middlemore Hospital, 12 are in Auckland City Hospital, and one is in Wellington Regional Hospital.

    “There are appropriate isolation and infection prevention and control plans in place at all hospitals where these patients are being managed,” said the ministry.

    Of the new cases, 62 are Pacific peoples, five are Asian, four are European, two are Māori, one is Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and the ethnicity of eight is unknown.

    The total number of active cases being managed in New Zealand is currently 429 and the number of total cases in this country has now crossed the 3000 mark, with 3023 cases.

    There were 70 new community cases reported in New Zealand yesterday.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also confirmed yesterday that all of New Zealand south of Auckland will move to alert level three at midnight Tuesday, but Auckland is likely to stay at level 4 for two weeks.

    Vaccine numbers
    The ministry said 89,316 vaccines were given yesterday, including 65,011 first doses and 24,305 second doses. This was the second biggest daily total to date.

    More than 3.2 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine have been administered to date.

    Of these, 2.1 million are first doses and more than 1.1 million are second doses.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • NZ reports 70 covid cases as Auckland faces longer lockdown

    RNZ News

    New Zealand’s largest city Auckland faces two more weeks of alert level 4 as the the rest of the country prepares to move to level three from Tuesday midnight.

    Speaking at a media conference this afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the districts below Auckland would remain in alert level 4 for four more days, but Auckland and Northland were “likely” looking at two more weeks of a full lockdown.

    “We will need to be confident we’ve stamped it out and have cases contained and isolated,” she said.

    Ardern said the lockdown in Auckland was working and was the best place for the region to be.

    But Dr Ashley Bloomfield said officials would not need to see days of zero cases to move Auckland out of level 4.

    Moving down alert levels in Auckland would require no new cases popping up unexpectedly over the coming week or two, Dr Bloomfield said.

    Meanwhile, 19 people with covid-19 are currently being treated in Auckland hospitals, including one in ICU.

    70 new community cases
    In a statement – where it was revealed that there were 70 new community cases of covid-19 – the Health Ministry said all 19 patients were in a stable condition.

    Two of the cases are in North Shore Hospital, eight are in Middlemore Hospital, and nine are in Auckland City Hospital.

    The statement said the total number of cases linked to the current community outbreak was 347 – 333 in Auckland and 14 in Wellington.

    Of the 70 new cases, 44 were Pacific peoples, 11 were Asian, six were European, six were Māori, and the ethnicity of three was unknown.

    The lockdown move received a mixed response in Auckland, with some welcoming the caution, others hoping they would move to level 2 in time for the weekend, and leaders saying they want an indication on when they would move down alert levels.

    A map showing split alert levels when Auckland and Northland continue in level 4 from Tuesday.
    A map showing split alert levels when Auckland and Northland continue in level 4 from Tuesday. Graphic: Vinay Ranchhod/RNZ

    Based on that number, Ardern said New Zealand “may be seeing the beginning of a plateau of cases”, but warned: “caution is still required.”

    It was clear from the outbreak that delta was more infectious and moved more quickly, she said.

    “Of the cases reported yesterday, roughly half were household contacts. Unfortunately we know from Australia that household members are almost universally becoming infected with covid-19, that means you can expect our numbers to continue for some time as household contacts continue to test positive,” she said.

    Public health units were observing very fast infection times with delta, but it did not change the fact the strategy right now was elimination and “every New Zealander can play their part in that,” Ardern said.

    “Lockdown is making a difference.

    “We know covid’s not going away quickly, but our strategy can evolve.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ lockdown ‘having an impact’, PM Jacinda Ardern tells nation

    RNZ News

    While covid-19 case numbers are still rising in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the lockdown is having an obvious impact in the fight against the delta variant outbreak.

    Ardern and Director of Public Health, Dr Caroline McElnay, provided the latest update on the government’s covid-19 response today.

    The number of community cases rose by 68, taking the total to 277.

    But Ardern said the first sign that the lockdown was having an effect was the fact that health authorities had not seen a spread beyond Auckland and Wellington, where there was a known link to the Auckland outbreak.

    “If it wasn’t for lockdown, I’m sure we would have seen cases spread further,” Ardern said.

    The second factor could be seen in the locations of interest, which were not growing at the same rate that the case numbers were.

    “That’s because people are staying at home.”.

    There have been an additional 20 new locations of interest since the last covid-19 update, although just three were added today.

    Ardern said across the locations of interest reported on the ministry’s website, 13 currently had generated additional cases.

    Ardern warned that the country still needed to be incredibly vigilant, especially with the delta variant.

    Watch the covid-19 update here:

    ‘Lockdown is having an impact’ – NZ PM. Video: RNZ News

    With delta, today’s numbers were not necessarily unexpected, she said.

    “With delta, people are infectious much sooner and they appear to give it to a lot more people.”

    Nothing was unexpected at the moment but “New Zealand does need to be incredibly vigilant”.

    “Delta has changed the rules of the game, that’s why we’ve changed our game plan.”

    We should be able to see the impact of delta being in our community for a week or more for a time to come, Ardern said.

    The elimination strategy recommended by experts was the best strategy to have at the moment and vaccinations “provide everyone with their own individual armour”, she said.

    The government’s plan was not to use lockdowns forever.

    Get vaccinated, says PM
    To avoid lockdowns, get vaccinated, Ardern said.

    After RNZ yesterday revealed a mix-up at a vaccination centre may have meant five of the 732 vaccinations performed on July 12 could have been saline solution, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield earlier today repeated that it had always been the ministry’s intention to contact those affected.

    He said in the afternoon briefing yesterday those people would now be contacted within 24 hours, but admitted the decision to contact people was not made until after RNZ News started making enquiries about it.

    Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins called the delay “regrettable”.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Fiji police arrest outspoken former surgeon over covid ‘misinformation’

    By Luke Rawalai in Suva

    Fiji police have confirmed the arrest of former surgeon Dr Jone Hawea, a critic of the country’s covid pandemic response, from his Lautoka home during curfew hours.

    Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said Dr Hawea was taken in for police interrogation on allegations of allegedly sharing misinformation about covid-19.

    “We confirm the arrest of Dr Hawea by our officers last [Tuesday] night,” Naisoro said.

    “He is currently being questioned at the CID Headquarters in Suva.”

    Dr Hawea was arrested in Lautoka and transported to Suva by police officers.

    His lawyer, Aman Ravindra-Singh, condemned the arrest, saying he could not access his client because the arrest had been conducted during curfew hours.

    Ravindra-Singh said he had been informed by his client at 3am yesterday morning that police had taken him straight to Suva.

    ‘Whisked out of homes’
    “It is a serious concern that people get to be arrested in the middle of the night, to be whisked out of their homes amid these covid restrictions,” he said.

    “What has happened to safety protocols?

    “I am representing Mr Hawea and I have not been able to access him because all of these took place during curfew hours.

    “He has been denied justice and his human rights.”

    Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro had not yet commented on the concerns raised by Ravindra-Singh.

    Several senior political figures and human rights advocates were detained by police last month for criticising the government’s strategy to address the pandemic and their rejection of the controversial iTaukei Land Act.

    Fiji now has 18,916 active cases in isolation and the death toll is at 453, with 451 of them from the April outbreak.

    Luke Rawalai is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘God bless them’ – church in covid cluster brushes off racist abuse

    By Justin Latif, Local Democracy Reporter

    “God bless them.”

    That’s the response from a leader at the Assembly of God Church of Samoa NZ in Māngere, following abusive messages sent to his church’s Facebook account.

    One of the messages circulating on social media referred to the community as “stupid coconuts” and said the community should get tested for covid-19 “before you kill us all”.

    The Pacific community has the highest testing rate in the country to date, with 981 tests per 1000 people compared to 479 for Pākehā.

    Local Democracy Reporting
    LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTING

    The church leader, who did not wish to be named, said members were disappointed by the attack but they felt no need to retaliate, adding “they can say whatever, it changes nothing”.

    “Our service happened before the lockdown so it’s not like we knew this was going to happen. We just had an unwanted visitor,” he said, referring to the undetected presence of covid-19 at the event.

    “We’re just getting on with it. We’re having meetings with MPs and making sure everyone is getting tested.”

    Church ‘pretty stressed’
    Jerome Mika works for South Auckland NGO The Cause Collective, and is currently supporting church leaders. He said the church was feeling “pretty stressed and overwhelmed” after receiving multiple abusive messages while dealing with the complexities of tracing the movements of the more than 500 people who attended their service on August 15.

    “It’s quite a complex situation. But the church is cooperating fully with the Ministry of Health, South Seas Health and The Cause Collective,” Mika said.

    Manukau ward councillors Alf Filipaina and Fa’anana Efeso Collins have both been made aware of the attacks on their constituents.

    Collins said that given many Pacific people work in essential services as well customer facing roles like bus driving and hospitality, it’s not a surprise they also make up so many of the positive cases, as mentioned by Dr Ashley Bloomfield yesterday.

    “We are definitely playing our part in the fight against Covid and Pacific people also have the highest testing rates,” Collins said. “But unfortunately belligerent and distasteful comments now emerging on social media show the simmering underbelly of discrimination in New Zealand.

    “So I’m encouraging people to stay clear of the comments sections in posts that license this ghastly behaviour.”

    Filipaina said the term “coconut” in particular was deeply hurtful to himself and others within the Pacific community.

    ‘Move to a KKK state’
    “I was disgusted when I saw that. My first reaction was that guy should move to a state in the USA where the KKK are prominent, because that sort of comment is not welcome here,” he said.

    A church in Māngere has received a flurry of racially abusive messages after it was named as a location of interest.
    A church in Māngere has received a flurry of racially abusive messages after it was named as a location of interest. Image: Justin Latif/LDR

    He said the media also had a role to play in how it frames the latest covid news, given five of the other church-related locations of interest were not in South Auckland and their congregations’ ethnicities were not being highlighted in the news.

    “The media should be concentrating on getting the key messages out like ‘get tested’ and ‘get vaccinated’,” Filipaina said.

    “They didn’t have to mention that it was a Samoan church. The media should just concentrate on the fact that it happened at a church without focusing on the ethnicity of those who go there.

    “I also saw a news outlet showing an image of the incorrect church as having a case. So I don’t know why they continue to make those mistakes as it does affect people from those other churches.”

    Among the reasons behind this recent spike in cases among the Pacific community, Auckland University associate professor of public health Dr Colin Tukuitonga said church services were the perfect setting for transmission, given the prevalence of singing and close proximity of attendees, before adding that low vaccination rates was another major reason.

    “The appalling vaccination coverage rates that we have is one reason why we are seeing many, many more cases,” he said.

    ‘Big song and dance’
    “They did a big song and dance about that mass vaccination event a few weeks back, but I’ve always said that wasn’t going to work.

    “Yes there were large numbers, but they were vaccinating low priority groups and we had barely 1300 Pacific vaccinated out of 15,000.”

    He also believed Pacific providers needed to be tasked with running the vaccination events.

    “We’ve always asked for more targeted vaccination options for Māori and Pacific communities. There’s some dedicated options for Māori and Pacific communities but nowhere [near] enough.”

    Meanwhile, the church that has found itself at the centre of this outbreak is just getting on with it and, like all New Zealanders right now, was “just looking forward to getting out of lockdown,” said one of its leaders.

    “Hopefully this all comes to an end soon and everything can go back to normal.”

    He says racist remarks directed at the Samoan community is “disappointing and frankly gutless. I’m asking everyone in the country to be kind. The virus is the problem, not people, people are the solution. Be part of the solution.”

    He says the Pacific community has been incredibly responsive and thanks community leaders for their efforts.

    Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers’ Association and NZ On Air. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Community leaders say NZ vaccine rollout plan not working for Pasifika

    By Christine Rovoi, RNZ Pacific journalist

    The government-designed vaccination rollout in New Zealand has not mobilised Pacific communities to respond safely and effectively, the Pacific Leadership Forum said.

    More than 50 percent of covid-19 infections in New Zealand are of Pacific descent.

    But they have one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

    Pakilau o Aotearoa Manase Lua is chair of the Pacific Response Coordination Team (PRCT) and said this showed the current vaccination strategies were not working for Pacific peoples.

    The Tongan community leader said this was despite millions of dollars being allocated towards covid-19 vaccination stations, communications and PR companies to drive awareness and engagement.

    “I don’t blame our communities at all. A lot of them are hearing a lot of misinformation through social media on the vaccines,” he said.

    “There’s uncertainty because now they hear that their children don’t even need permission. It’s all on the Ministry of Health’s website. Children who want to get vaccinated don’t need to tell their parents.”

    PRCT helped mobilise Pacific communities
    Pakilau said during last year’s outbreak in April, the PRCT helped mobilise Pacific communities to get tested at the Ōtara South Seas, when Pacific testing was low.

    In August, the PRCT and other Pacific providers set up a pop-up community testing station at a Māngere church, “when a government response was not forthcoming”, he said.

    “That’s not going to help our communities feel safe. They want to know what’s going on,” Pakilau said.

    “It just feels like the government, DHBs and the officials are forgetting the community, and forgetting to communicate with us. Come and talk to us. The biggest problem is they are not willing to listen to Pacific voices.”

    Pakilau Manase Lua
    Pacific Response Coordination Team’s chair Pakilau Manase Lua … “The biggest problem is they are not willing to listen to Pacific voices.” Image: RNZ Pacific

    One location of interest in this latest outbreak is the Samoa Assemblies of God Church in the south Auckland suburb of Māngere.

    Reverend Victor Pouesi is the minister at the EFKS Puaseisei Magele Sasa’e – Māngere East Congregational Christian Church of Samoa.

    He said the church was one of the clusters in last year’s outbreak and some people are still confused about the “whole vaccination thing”.

    Engaging church, community
    He said the government should have engaged the church and community leaders in their response efforts.

    “Now it shows in this vaccination campaign, people feel more comfortable coming to church and getting vaccinated especially our Pacific people because that’s where they go for comfort, for spiritual nourishment and this is where they always meet,” he said.

    “If we are not able to get together and be a part of this response effort, things will get out of hand. Our people are already panicking, most of them fearing the worst.”

    Minister for Pacific Peoples ‘Aupito William Sio says more Pacific providers are needed and work is continuing on the roll out in Pacific communities.

    Aupito also said church leaders should advise their congregations to get tested, after it was revealed an infected person attended Sunday service.

    “We’re not blaming anybody other than the virus. But we really do need the cooperation of our church leaders, particularly when there is a positive test in and among your congregation.”

    ‘Aupito was adamant Pasifika will not be judged based on their ethnicity.

    Malia Su-emalo Lui (left cubicle) and Seumanu Va'a Robertson (right) receive information about Covid-19 vaccination before receiving the jab at a public vaccination event arranged by the Catholic Church in Wellington, 9 June 2021.
    Malia Su-emalo Lui (left cubicle) and Seumanu Va’a Robertson (right) receive information about Covid-19 vaccination before receiving the jab at a public vaccination event arranged by the Catholic Church in Wellington, 9 June 2021. Image: Johnny Blades /RNZ Pacific

    Strategy worries health experts
    Two Pacific clinical health experts and members of the government’s covid-19 response teams have expressed their concerns about the effectiveness of the strategies.

    Dr Collin Tukuitonga said the DHB’s mass vaccination event held in Mānukau, earlier this month, was ineffective in reaching Māori and Pacific communities.

    Dr Api Talemaitoga said “the event lacked Māori and Pasifika input”.

    “Current vaccination rollout strategies are highly top-down in approach and lack authentic Pacific community dialogue or initiative,” he said.

    “There have been some positive gains in information dissemination, however they have failed to mobilise Pacific communities to be vaccinated.”

    Auckland Pacific community leader Reverend Victor Pouesi.
    Auckland Pacific community leader Reverend Victor Pouesi … some people are still confused about the “whole vaccination thing”. Image: Christine Rovoi/RNZ Pacific

    Pakilau said that to increase Pacific vaccination numbers a “by community for community approach” was required — “that is a bottom-up approach.”

    “Pacific communities are at risk during the rising pandemic, and we must take community action.

    Top-down continues inequitable outcomes
    “The government rhetoric and top-down approach imposed on our communities continues inequitable outcomes.

    “To increase vaccination uptake for Pacific communities, a truly community designed, partnered approach that is resourced is required to equip and empower our leaders to mobilise their communities across the nation.

    “Pacific people stand with Māori when they fervently said ‘He tangata, he tangata, he tangata’. It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.”

    The Pacific Response to Covid-19 Team is a committee of the Pacific Leadership Forum and represents up to 10 Pacific ethnic groups from across the country.

    It was established in March 2020 to provide a community response to the pandemic.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Has Been Approved. Here’s What That Means.

    A medical worker injects a teen with the covid vaccine

    On Monday morning, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Previously, the highly efficacious two-shot mRNA vaccine was being distributed under what is called “emergency use authorization,” a regulatory standard that is different from “full” approval. Full approval of the vaccine, which is now officially named Comirnaty (koe-mir’-na-tee), is a huge milestone, as it is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be fully approved by the FDA in the United States.

    “While this and other vaccines have met the FDA’s rigorous, scientific standards for emergency use authorization, as the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. “While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated.”

    As Woodcock said, the FDA previously approved the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use authorization (EUA) for people over the age of 12. The first EUA approval happened on Dec. 11, 2020, for individuals 16 years of age and older. Today, Comirnaty is officially FDA-approved for use in the United States for those 16 and over; adolescents between 12 and 16 can still get the vaccine under the EUA approval, though it has not yet been FDA-approved for those under 16.

    The approval arrives at a historical moment in which the rate of COVID-19 vaccination has slowed precipitously in the United States, while the highly transmissible delta variant has become a dominant strain. Following the announcement, President Joe Biden said in a speech that he hopes this news will motivate unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated. He also advised corporate, state and local governments to “require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements.”

    Official “Approval” and “Emergency Use Authorization” — What’s the Difference?

    In short, FDA approval means that at least six months of sufficient data has been rigorously examined by the public health agency to determine a vaccine’s safety and efficacy. From a bureaucratic standpoint, “full” approval of any vaccine was impossible to meet earlier because of time requirements and available data.

    Importantly, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a rigor to attaining an emergency use authorization which also requires specific conditions to be considered. Indeed, EAUs are often granted in situations when “there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives.” That was certainly that case with COVID-19. In other situations, the FDA can grant early access to a vaccine through a process known as expanded access.

    On a call with reporters on Monday, Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, explained in depth the process the FDA followed to approve Comirnaty.

    “We are highly rigorous in what we do, and we don’t just look at what the summaries of data are, we go down to the level of the individual patients,” Marks said. “What took time, is that we actually go and we monitor a percentage of the sites where the clinical trials were conducted in order to make sure that the data that was collected with accuracy, and matches what was submitted to the agency.”

    Marks said that the agency inspected specific facilities that are manufacturing the Pfizer vaccine.

    “We went through [thousands] of patients’ data to make sure we looked at adverse events, efficacy data, and we did our own analyses, in addition to the company’s analyses, and then we also did benefit risk assessments based on our real world data that has emerged since the vaccine has now been used in hundreds of millions of people globally,” Marks added.

    Pfizer and BioNTech submitted their request for the full approval on May 7, 2021. Marks said FDA personnel worked day and night to sift through the data and grant approval 97 days later.

    What Did the Data Show?

    When the FDA first issued an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the agency made the decision based on safety and effectiveness data from a randomized, controlled, blinded ongoing clinical trial of 37,586 individuals.

    In order to grant full approval, the FDA reviewed updated data from this same clinical trial which included a longer duration of follow-up and more participants. These varying factors determine that the vaccine is actually 91% effective in preventing COVID-19 — a slight decrease from the 95% effectiveness found during the EUA process.

    In the updated data used for full approval, half of the participants were followed for safety outcomes and concerns for four months; 12,000 vaccine recipients were followed for six months. According to this data, the most commonly reported side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain, chills, and fever. The FDA conducted an additional analysis in data regarding myocarditis and pericarditis following the vaccine. Investigators observed the risk was higher among males under 40 compared to females and older males; it is highest in males 12 through 17 years of age. Most of the participants were able to resolve their symptoms, but some did require intensive care support.

    The research teams still highly advocate for COVID-19 vaccines for this population as the health risks from the virus are far greater than those linked to the vaccine.

    The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will continue to monitor any safety concerns.

    “These studies will include an evaluation of long-term outcomes among individuals who develop myocarditis following vaccination with Comirnaty,” the FDA stated. “In addition, although not FDA requirements, the company has committed to additional post-marketing safety studies, including conducting a pregnancy registry study to evaluate pregnancy and infant outcomes after receipt of Comirnaty during pregnancy.”

    What Changes Now That the Pfizer Vaccine Is FDA Approved?

    Official FDA approval does grant some changes that the public will notice. First, the name is different. Second, Pfizer and BioNTech can directly market the shot to consumers now — prepare to possibly see some ads and commercials. The full approval could also push individuals, companies and schools to mandate vaccinations.

    A Kaiser Family Foundation survey released in July found that 16 percent of adults surveyed who remained unvaccinated said the vaccine was “too unknown.” Officials hope FDA approval will sway a number of vaccine hesitant people to get inoculated. A few individuals explicitly said they wanted full FDA approval before getting vaccinated.

    What About the Delta Variant?

    Notably, the data collected and examined by the FDA to authorize full approval happened before the delta variant took hold in the United States. On Monday, Marks said there is “real world evidence” that suggests that the vaccine is still effective against the delta variant. However, data coming out of Israel suggests “with time, immunity from the vaccine does tend to wane.”

    “So that’s something we’ll be following closely, and obviously we’ll be leaning into consideration of the thoughts regarding boosters etcetera as we move into the fall,” Marks said.

    What About Children Under 12?

    Marks said the FDA is still waiting for Pfzier and BioNTech to submit data from their clinical trials of people under the age of 12.

    “Currently there are still trials ongoing here, and so the agency has to wait for the company to submit the data from those trials, so that we have a good safety data set because we certainly want to make sure that we get it right in the children ages five through 11 and then, even in younger children after that,” Marks said. “And so we will obviously move swiftly once those data are submitted.”

    As Salon previously reported, late September is the earliest parents of 5 to 11 year olds could expect their children to be eligible for vaccination.

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • 41 new covid cases in New Zealand community, says Bloomfield

    RNZ News

    New Zealand reports there are 41 new cases of covid-19 in the community today, a day after the country’s lockdown was extended.

    This is the highest daily figure since the delta strain outbreak began just over a week ago and takes the total to 148 cases.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said 38 of the new cases were in Auckland and three in Wellington.

    The Wellington cases were among contacts first reached two evenings ago, and have known links to the outbreak.

    About 59 cases in the Auckland outbreak have not yet been epidemiologically linked to the outbreak, Dr Bloomfield said, but it was clear the vast majority of those were either are a close contact or were at a location of interest.

    There are eight covid-19-positive patients in hospital, none in ICU, all in pressure-isolated rooms.

    There are 80 genome sequences, all linked to the outbreak.

    Church-llnked subcluster
    Dr Bloomfield said the majority of cases in the outbreak were linked to the subcluster at the Assembly of God church in Auckland’s Māngere suburb.

    The second-biggest subcluster is associated with the first cases identified, which has 23 cases.

    More than 15,000 contacts
    As of 9am today there were 15,741 contacts formally identified, about 10 times as many as there were in the outbreak about this time last year in Auckland.

    There are now nearly 900 frontline contact tracers working around the country.

    There are 369 contacts who could be considered the “very closest contacts”.

    Dr Bloomfield said all cases were interviewed within 24 hours and 89 percent of close contacts were interviewed within 24 hours of a case notification.

    “The time from exposure event to contact identification, the metric is over 80 percent within 24 hours and that’s sitting at 75 percent at the moment.”

    100 extra locations of interest
    He said there were an additional 100 locations of interest since the last update, more than 400 in total.

    Yesterday, there were 35,376 tests processed across the country. Dr Bloomfield said the wait times had been lower, and more primary care providers had been performing them.

    He said wastewater testing from Warkworth had been negative, and genome sequencing suggests it was someone who was infected transited briefly through Warkworth.

    There are more than 2000 people working on the covid vaccination healthline. On its busiest day, August 19, the service spoke to more than 24,000 people.

    Vaccination rates and six subclusters
    Dr Bloomfield said vaccination rates for Pacific and Māori were similar to or slightly higher in each age group compared with other age groups.

    He said the rates were lower for Pacific in South Auckland than other areas which was why the government was working on reaching that community.

    Dr Bloomfield said modelling suggested the peak had not yet been hit, and while the numbers had increased today it was reassuring that cases had not risen exponentially.

    He said soon all the cases that would have arisen before lockdown would be identified.

    Dr Bloomfield was confident of infection prevention and control procedures at the vaccination centre near the Crowne Plaza managed isolation facility.

    He said testing suggested the transmission from the case who stayed at the Crowne Plaza did not come through staff, but it was still a possibility. Work was still being done to figure out how the virus got out.

    He said there had been scam test results texted to people and added that anyone who had tested positive would receive a phone call, not a text.

    Of the Assembly of God church cluster, he said it was a combination of people who were at the service as well as other members of the household and close contacts.

    Six subclusters
    He said there were six subclusters identified in the overall outbreak.

    There were about 27 different church groups that moved up to Auckland for the Assembly of God service, including some who travelled up from Wellington.

    More than 500 people have been tested as part of the cluster.

    “Anyone who is a close contact or has been in a high-risk setting, that testing is prioritised.” He says there are five testing stations around Auckland that are “invitation only”, and with the high demand there is currently a turnaround of about 48 hours.

    Finance Minister Grant Robertson said all the testing capacity around the country was being used, including talks with universities about resources there that can be brought on board.

    He said an MIQ worker at the Novotel in Ellerslie who tested positive yesterday was fully vaccinated and was a close contact of another case. The person worked one shift, he said; all others were being tested but it was not a case of the infection coming from MIQ.

    Dr Bloomfield said separate demographic information about the cases in the outbreak would be available from this afternoon and updated daily.

    Compliance
    Robertson said ministers received assurances from police that people were by and large being compliant.

    He said nothing about the lockdown having changed employment law, and while the wage subsidy was there to support those who could not work, people should be paid for the hours that they were working.

    On the seriousness of covid-19, Dr Bloomfield said if New Zealand followed the same approach as was seen in Scotland, about 10,000 people would have died within about 20 months.

    “Annually we have around 600 influenza-related deaths, so it’s a magnitude of difference, and that’s not counting all of the people who may have been infected many of whom we are seeing from studies around the world have ongoing symptoms.”

    He said even with the high vaccination rates seen in the UK, an uncontrolled outbreak would see the equivalent of about nine or 10 deaths a day in New Zealand.

    Robertson said significant additional testing was being stood up in Auckland and it did not make sense for people to be travelling from Auckland to Thames to get a test.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Republicans Rush to Squash Local Control in Fight Against COVID

    Pro-Pandemic protesters display signs against vaccines and social distancing measures

    Not too long ago, there was a time when Republicans insisted that they were against Big Government and wanted to push it down as much as possible to local control. They extolled the virtues of town councils, school boards and community commissions for being close to the people and, therefore, more responsive to the needs of their constituents. Government officials were neighbors and co-workers and friends so they had a better chance of truly understanding the issues people care about.

    But it was always a bit of a con since there were plenty of things they wanted the much-hated “Big Government” to do, such as dictate others’ personal behaviors and impose their religious beliefs on them. And they have been positively giddy about supporting a gigantic military even as they have lately pretended to be isolationists only interested in fortress America, which certainly doesn’t require the bloated military budget they rubber stamp without question. Nonetheless, the anti-tax activist Grover Norquist’s old saying that conservatives wanted to make the federal government small enough to “drown in the bathtub” was generally understood to mean that the national government should devolve to allow as much local control as possible.

    And then came the pandemic.

    From the beginning, governors of Republican states have done everything they could to undermine local leaders in their states, from public health officials to school boards to mayors, as they tried to battle this deadly virus by putting in place mitigation strategies to keep their constituents from dying. And it continues to this day. It started with former President Donald Trump, of course, when he turned the pandemic response into another ideological war back in the spring of 2020 to try to salvage his presidency. His only concern was that the economy would be roaring when it came time to vote in the fall so he sent a strong signal to his GOP allies that this would be the priority. They were happy to oblige.

    GOP governors quickly took up Trump’s negative message about masks and public health warnings about super-spreader events were boldly disregarded. Some quickly filed lawsuits, later upheld by the Supreme Court, which said there could be no restrictions on religious gatherings. With some exceptions, the GOP leadership opportunistically reacted to the pandemic as if it were a liberal plot to deprive them of their freedoms as a political strategy.

    Trump eventually left office presiding over the third surge of the virus and it was the worst by far. Obsessed as he was with The Big Lie and having survived COVID himself, he was no longer interested despite the fact that the vaccines were coming online and had the potential to end the pandemic in America in a matter of months. He made some flaccid attempts to claim credit for the development of the vaccines but didn’t even bother to make it public that he and his family had received their shots until months later. Trump’s legacy on the pandemic is solid: he was a massive failure.

    President Biden, on the other hand, assumed office and focused immediately on the vaccine rollout, getting hundreds of millions of people vaccinated in record time, sending FEMA and the military around the country to help out, and pushing the states in every way possible to make the vaccines accessible. For a few months, it looked as if we might have gotten through the worst of it and could all go back to living our lives as before. Unfortunately, all that Republican caterwauling about the mitigation strategies had been extended to the vaccines and tens of millions of GOP voters have refused to save their own lives and the lives of those around them out of a determination to believe conspiracy theories, misinformation and the not so subtle signals from the GOP elite.

    Now we are in what President Biden has called “the pandemic of the unvaccinated” with the Delta variant having swept the country and hospitalizing thousands of people just as we are confronting the prospect of sending kids back to school. Children under 12, who are unable to be vaccinated are at the mercy of these ideologically indoctrinated zealots who refuse to protect their own children and the children of others from this strain that is making many of them sick.

    The “mask wars” are back, this time with angry parents demanding that their kids not be required to protect themselves and others in crowded classrooms and defiant customers refusing to adhere to local mandates for masks inside public places. And while vaccinations have picked up in the last couple of weeks, there remain at least 70-80 million eligible people who are still not protected. According to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Republicans make up the vast majority of people who refuse to get vaccinated, wear masks or otherwise accept the reality that we are dealing with a deadly virus. And they are acting out all over the country.

    And once again, GOP governors are coddling them by banning mask requirements in schools, vaccine mandates for employers and any other means of getting enough people vaccinated to stop the progress of this virus. Right-wing media is pushing snake oil cures like an anti-parasite treatment for horses and cows, as Tucker Carlson did last week on his highly-rated Fox News broadcast. (The FDA had to send out a warning that humans should not take this drug after numerous reports from poison control centers around the country.) The results are shocking.

    In Republican states, hospitals are filling up with unvaccinated COVID patients, many of them younger than 50. In Mississippi, they are putting patients in parking garages, and in Texas, they have to medevac aortic dissection victims to other states because they don’t have any ICU beds. Hundreds of patients are unable to find hospital beds. And local officials are having to battle their state governments in Texas, Florida and South Carolina to allow them to do something about it while in Arkansas and Tennessee, the Republican governors are fighting with their own GOP legislatures to allow local officials to enact life-saving regulations.

    This is just one more example of the rot at the heart of what we once called the conservative movement. They never cared about small government and local control. They just pretended to. When push comes to shove they are always ready to squash anyone who disagrees with them using any means necessary, all the while calling it “freedom.” If people die because of it, well, that’s just politics.

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Learn From The East – A Major Lesson Of The Pandemic.

    The world is now in the throes of another wave of Covid-19, with another surge in infections, sickness and deaths, this time due to the more infectious and apparently more lethal Delta variant.

    Are there lessons to be learned from the previous waves of Covid-19 that might help us now?

    There are, and they were evident long ago, but in the West, they have been largely ignored.  Up to now, for example, the US has suffered over 617,000 deaths; China in contrast has suffered fewer than 5,000 deaths in a population four times as large as the US.  Could there not be some lessons that might serve us in the West now and in the future?

    In the US and throughout the West, the response to China’s success has all too often been to ignore or deny it.

    The post Learn From The East – A Major Lesson Of The Pandemic. appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • NZ stays in lockdown with 35 more covid cases reaching 107 total

    RNZ News

    All of New Zealand will remain in lockdown until at least Friday, while Auckland will remain in level 4 until at least 31 August with 35 new community cases taking the total to 107.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement this afternoon saying delta had “got a headstart” in New Zealand before the lockdown.

    She said early modelling suggested that the country would not reach the peak of the outbreak until day eight to 10 after lockdown started and currently New Zealand is only at day 6.

    Ardern said known contacts are spread across New Zealand and there may be more contacts that are still not known.

    She said Cabinet made the decision to extend the lockdown on the basis that the safest option now was to hold the course for longer.

    Cabinet has decided all of New Zealand will remain at level 4 for an additional four days, until 11.59pm, Friday 27 August. Ardern said these settings would be reviewed on Friday.

    Auckland will continue to be the main location of the outbreak and will remain in alert level 4 until 11.59pm on Tuesday, August 31, Ardern said. The level of Auckland’s setting will be reviewed next Monday.

    Ardern said the extra time by delaying the drop in alert levels gives New Zealand additional data and information and time to test.

    Parliament suspended for a week
    Ardern also this afternoon announced that Parliament would be suspended for a week but said select committees would continue online.

    She said asking ministers to make themselves available to appear before select committees “will allow us to balance safety and scrutiny”.

    Parliament can be postponed up to a month during an epidemic under section 55 of the standing orders, but the leaders of all parties must be consulted first and it must be on the written recommendation of the Director-General of Health.

    Opposition parties have been calling for Parliament to begin again in alert level 4 conditions, or reinstate the Epidemic Response Committee as a minimum, saying suspension of Parliament is undemocratic.

    National leader Judith Collins said important questions needed to be answered about how the delta variant got into New Zealand, and suspending Parliament meant the government would avoid that scrutiny.

    ACT leader David Seymour said it was very different from having an opposition-led Epidemic Response Committee as was seen in the previous lockdown and – far from all parties agreeing – the decision was one “dictated by Jacinda Ardern alone”.

    Covid-19 stats: 35 new community cases
    In a statement the Ministry of Health said there were 35 new community cases of covid-19 today – 33 of them in Auckland and two of them in Wellington.

    That brings the total number of cases in the community outbreak to 107 with 99 of them in Auckland and eight in Wellington.

    There were also three new cases today announced in managed isolation.

    The ministry said it was continuing to add locations of interest as interviews from confirmed cases were completed by the public health staff.

    As of Monday night there were more than 400 locations of interest listed on the ministry’s website, the bulk of them in Auckland.

    NZ Covid Tracer
    Promoting the NZ Covid Tracer … system under pressure. Image: RNZ

    Māngere church cluster
    The Ministry of Health is urging members of a Samoan church to isolate and get tested after multiple covid-19 cases have now been identified as having attended last Sunday.

    That includes anyone who went to the Samoan Assembly of God Church in Māngere on 15 August between 9am and 3pm that day.

    The cluster has also spread to Wellington with three of the cases now in the capital.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the church represented the single event with the most number of cases.

    Dr Bloomfield said that more than 50 percent of this outbreak’s covid-19 cases are of Pacific ethnicity and a further breakdown of cases by ethnicity is being prepared.

    Crowne Plaza investigation
    At the briefing regarding alert levels, Ardern said the public walkway at the Crowne Plaza MIQ facility in Auckland had not been established to have been a problem.

    She said it had barriers between, and ventilation, and had been assessed by infection control experts, but “we’ve ruled nothing in or out right now”.

    Health authorities have revealed the time that the person with the earliest identified case of the delta variant was in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

    They say if transmission had occurred in the lobby it would have been on Saturday, August 7, between 10pm and 11pm.

    The Ministry of Health has been trying to track down six people who were in an adjacent walkway at the time.

    Of the six, four have been identified using CCTV and three of them have tested negative. Two are still to be identified.

    Contact tracing system under pressure
    By Monday evening, there were more than 400 locations of interest and more than 13,000 close contacts in the Auckland outbreak.

    Contact tracers are working around the clock as they try to track down people who potentially came into contact with the virus at running events, in supermarkets, at fast food outlets and on public transport.

    Auckland authorities are urgently recruiting more contact tracers to keep up with the demand.

    Laboratories, testing sites and vaccination centres are also straining at the seams as the health system struggles to keep pace with the delta incursion.

    Dr Bloomfield said the country’s contact tracing system was working at 100 percent, with its covid surge plan in full use.

    Ardern said she had not heard of an instance where contacts had not been home when contacted by tracers. She said it is very heartening to see a lack of cases which had been infectious in the community, compared to what had been seen in New South Wales.

    Police ‘pleased’ with lockdown compliance despite breaches
    People are generally complying with the lockdown though a small number of incidents are still cropping up, police say.

    By 5pm yesterday, 29 people nationwide had been charged with 33 offences related to breaking the lockdown rules since it came into effect at 11.59pm on August 17.

    Those arrests were primarily the result of lockdown protests.

    Another 85 people had been given a warning.

    Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the public’s behaviour was generally good.

    “Officers will remain out and about in our communities, particularly at high-demand locations such as supermarkets and covid-19 testing and vaccination sites,” he said.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Fijian clinical team puts together response plan for covid-hit Kadavu

    By Timoci Vula in Suva

    Fiji’s Ministry of Health’s clinical scoping team on the remote southern island of Kadavu has begun to put together a response plan to help escalate its response to an expected wave of severe covid-19 infections and deaths.

    On Friday, a total of 47 cases were recorded outside the main island of Viti Levu — 46 on Kadavu, and one at Nabouwalu, Bua, on the second largest island Vanua Levu.

    More villagers on Kadavu have tested positive and were among 303 new cases in Fiji reported for the 24 hours to 8am yesterday.

    The government also confirmed five people had died, bringing the death toll to 438 – 436 of them from the outbreak that began in April this year.

    A key part of the Kadavu response plan is to identify people vulnerable to severe covid and to “pre-emptively engage them in a care plan that allows early identification of danger symptoms and signs and access to clinical care in a timely manner”.

    Health Secretary Dr James Fong said the situation in Kadavu remained a major concern and they anticipated their plan would be a challenging exercise.

    “Another important part of the response to mitigate severe disease will be community-wide engagement to establish specific plans that help maintain oversight over vulnerable persons, and facilitate their timely transfer to a health care facility when required,” Dr Fong said last night.

    Screening continues
    He said the public health team was also continuing with screening and isolation protocols.

    Dr Fong has also reiterated calls for maritime islanders to refrain from engaging in any unauthorised travel to and from Viti Levu.

    All the current protocols to regulate domestic movements must be adhered to in order to prevent spread of the virus beyond Viti Levu, he said.

    “We repeat our call to all village leaders and elders to support our current efforts to protect our maritime islands and to immediately report any suspicious movements into your community.”

    Timoci Vula is a reporter with The Fiji Times. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pacific churchgoers urged to isolate as cluster cases identified in Wellington

    RNZ Pacific

    New Zealand health officials are concerned about a cluster of covid-19 cases linked to a Pacific church in Auckland’s Māngere suburb.

    The Ministry of Health is urging members of a Samoan church to isolate and get tested after multiple covid-19 cases have now been identified as having attended last Sunday a week ago.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has highlighted this as a location of particular importance to the outbreak.

    “Several of the new cases announced to date are linked to a church service at the Samoan Assembly of God Church in Māngere last Sunday, August 15,” Dr Bloomfield said at a media conference yesterday.

    The cluster has spread to Wellington, too.

    “There is a number of cases now around that event, including three of our cases down here in Wellington who had been at that event in Auckland.”

    The attendees at the church that day (33 Andrew Baxter Drive, Māngere, between 9am and 3pm) are being asked to isolate for 14 days from the exposure date.

    Another busy day
    That means they have to stay apart from other members of their household, as well as get tested, which they have been heeding.

    “Another busy day – 1023 swabs all up. We’ve had a lot of the Pacific community come through,” said Michelle Tukia, lead nurse at South Seas Healthcare which runs the Ōtara testing centre.

    In addition to those swabs, a special pop-up centre set up at a nearby Samoan Assembly of God church took 500 swabs yesterday.

    Auckland councillor for the Māngere ward Alf Filipaina is urging people to comply for the sake of their family.

    “Because you don’t want to get them infected. This is even more important to do because of the variant. Protect your family by protecting yourself,” Filipaina said.

    “Look it’s hard – with the extending aiga whanau I’ve got, and many other Pacific and Māori [do] – you just have to be very careful.”

    While it is only one of a number of large events, it is a top focus for the Ministry of Health.

    Contact tracing priority
    “This is a priority for our contact tracing efforts. What we have seen in the past of course is that Pacific community leaders are very good at mobilising the community to get tested.

    “This is coming through in our testing results – by far the highest rate of testing is among our Pacific community, and we want to encourage that.”

    Filipaina said the community has squashed covid-19 before, and it can do it again.

    “When it happened at Mt Roskill, and hit South Auckland, Papatoetoe High School, we ended up getting through that … if we just follow the same [procedure].”

    Testing centres are open again today.

    Lockdown plus decision today
    Meanwhile, RNZ reports that New Zealand will find out today if the covid-19 lockdown is going to be extended.

    The government will announce any lockdown changes at 4pm but it has already signalled Auckland is likely to remain in lockdown a while longer.

    The number of community cases of covid-19 grew by 21 yesterday, 20 in Auckland and one in Wellington, taking the total number in the current outbreak to 72.

    The country’s contact tracing system has hit capacity and and more contact tracers, especially Pacific, are being urgently recruited for Auckland.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pacific health provider fears for covid-forced lockdown hardships

    By Sarah Robson, RNZ News social issues reporter

    A Pacific health and social service provider in Auckland fears the city’s fifth lockdown will push families back into hardship.

    Fono chief executive Tevita Funaki said that before the latest covid-19 outbreak, many whanau had been getting back on their feet economically.

    But the prospect of a prolonged period at alert level 4 would be a real setback for them, he said.

    “We are very concerned around the level of hardship of families, I think families were starting to get back into normality.”

    The lockdown would be a tipping point for many and Funaki said many people would be feeling stressed and anxious.

    In previous lockdowns, they had also seen an increase in family violence.

    The Fono is gearing up to provide more food, financial, welfare and mental health support in the coming weeks.

    Funaki said Pacific agencies across Auckland would be working with community leaders to ensure families have access to what they need.

    Families with children would be experiencing added pressure, with schools reverting to online learning.

    Funaki said many households were overcrowded and still did not have access to devices or internet connections.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ reports 21 new covid community cases – outbreak total now 72

    RNZ News

    New Zealand has reported 21 new community cases of covid-19 today – 20 in Auckland and one in Wellington.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins gave the latest covid-19 update.

    Dr Bloomfield said there were now a total of 72 cases associated with the Auckland outbreak.

    The Wellington case was first reported yesterday but is included in the national tally today. There are now six confirmed cases in Wellington

    Dr Bloomfield said there were 8677 contacts that had been formally identified and virtually all of those were considered “close contacts”.

    “The number of contacts has increased significantly, something we had expected as we identify more cases and locations of interest. As of 9am this morning, 8667 individual contacts had been formally identified and we expect that will continue to increase through the day as further records are fully processed,” he said.

    “From today, contacts who are self-isolating can choose to send their daily health and wellbeing information via an electronic survey, that is email, rather than phone call daily. These people are all initially contacted by phone and if they opt to go for email welfare checks they can do so, which helps free up capacity in our contact tracing teams and further speed up the process.”

    Samoan church linked cases
    Dr Bloomfield said several new cases were linked to a service at the Samoan Assembly of God church last Sunday. Those who attended and who had not yet been tested were being asked to.

    From today new locations of interest will be published on the Ministry of Health website every two hours. Significant or urgent locations will be published immediately.

    New Zealand’s Crown Research Institute ESR is now testing wastewater from 14 sites.

    There have been positive results in Auckland and Wellington. The positive result in Wellington was from Moa Point and other Wellington locations were negative.

    Hipkins said yesterday was a record day for weekend vaccinations with more than 50,000 doses administered.

    Hipkins said more than a million New Zealanders were now vaccinated and 73 percent of New Zealanders over the age of 40 were either vaccinated or booked in to get the jab.

    Another 382,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive in New Zealand tomorrow, Hipkins said.

    ‘Excellent’ PPE stocks
    Dr Bloomfield said the health system had “excellent” PPE stocks to deal with this outbreak, with national PPE supply chain holding 18 million n95 masks, 285 million medical masks, 18 million isolation gowns, 1.6 million face shields and 280 million nitrile gloves.

    Earlier today, Dr Bloomfield got the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the Pipitea Marae vaccination centre in Wellington which had just been stood up because it allowed for greater capacity and social distancing.

    Dr Bloomfield was just one of the more than 500 doses they were giving out today at that centre alone.

    He said he barely felt it.

    “Feeling great actually. It’s really nice to have got to this point,” he said.

    “I’ve been talking about the vaccine for months. My age group came online just a couple of weeks ago, so I used ‘Book My Vaccine’ last Sunday and was able to get a slot today.”

    Yesterday, 21 new community cases of covid-19 were announced.

    Pukekohe High School staff link
    Meanwhile, a staff member at Pukekohe High School has tested positive for covid-19, meaning seven Auckland schools now have confirmed cases linked to them.

    The other six schools are: Western Springs College, Avondale College, Northcote College, Lynfield College, McAuley High School and De La Salle College.

    After being halted at the start of lockdown, the vaccine rollout is moving up a gear with 56,843 vaccines administered yesterday – the most in a single day.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said 72 percent of New Zealanders aged 40+ were either booked or have been vaccinated with at least one dose.

    A drive through mass-vaccination centre is open today in Auckland to make up for appointments pushed out due to the alert level 4 lockdown. The centre, set up at the park and ride site at Auckland Airport, will be open for a week and is expected to immunise 2000 people a day.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • 21 new community covid cases in New Zealand – total now 51

    RNZ News

    New Zealand has reported 21 new covid-19 community cases in the country today.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay gave an update on the covid-19 situation this afternoon

    Three of the new cases are in the capital Wellington, while the rest are in Auckland.

    Dr McElnay said the total number of community cases linked to the current Auckland outbreak was now 51.

    All cases have been or are being transferred to managed isolation facilities using strict infection prevention and control procedures, Dr McElnay said.

    More than 5000 individual contacts have been identified and the Health Ministry expects that would grow and increase by another 5000 by the end of today.

    Dr McElnay said covid-19 had been found in waste water testing in Warkworth, north of Auckland.

    Hit two records
    Ardern said New Zealand had hit two records yesterday, with the most number of vaccines and tests carried out.

    There were 56,843 vaccines administered yesterday — the most in a single day. Ardern said 72 percent of NZers aged 40+ were either booked or have been vaccinated with at least one dose.

    “This is great progress,” Ardern said.

    More than 150,000 vaccination bookings were made yesterday.

    Yesterday was also the day the most covid-19 tests were processed in a single day, with 41,464 tests completed.

    “The fact we have achieved both these results on the same day is extraordinary and is exactly what we need to do to get on top of the outbreak and for the future,” she said.

    There are 14 community testing stations open across Auckland today, Ardern said.

    Lockdown to continue
    The Prime Minister yesterday announced the alert level 4 lockdown would continue until at least midnight Tuesday.

    Since then, new cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed at the University of Auckland, a second student at the neighbouring Auckland University of Technology and two more Auckland schools.

    In addition, the list of locations of interest has been growing.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    NZ Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay
    NZ Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay gave a covid-19 update with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today. Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Anger and misinformation about covid-19 in NZ a dangerous tumour

    FIRST PERSON: By Ben Strang, RNZ News reporter

    RNZ reporter Ben Strang was on the streets before the latest lockdown when he was attacked, and writes that it feels like there is more animosity towards the government and media this time around.

    Despite living largely free of restrictions in New Zealand compared to almost every other nation for the best part of this covid pandemic, it is apparent that some people have no intention of living under level four restrictions.

    Hours into the first day of lockdown, Billy Te Kahika, Vinny Eastwood, and their loyal legion of conspiracy theorists launched a number of protests against the measures set out by the government.

    Te Kahika and Eastwood pitched up with about 80 others outside Television New Zealand’s headquarters in Auckland.

    Some of their views may seem idiotic, but neither of them is an idiot.

    The decision to protest outside TVNZ served many purposes: It’s a central Auckland location; it was guaranteed to get them a level of media attention; and they could try to make a point to the media who, apparently, ignore their salient points about the truth of covid-19, vaccines, Bill Gates, the moon landings, and whatever else.

    Te Kahika and Eastwood were arrested and are now going through the court process.

    It feels like part of a rising level of resentment over government action on combating the pandemic. Patience can wear thin, it might be hard to see an end point and we are left wondering when we will return to “normal”.

    Trusty black face mask
    “On Tuesday night, five hours before the restrictions were about to snap into place, I was tasked with talking to people on the streets of Wellington about the impending lockdown.

    Wearing an RNZ jacket and my trusty black face mask – and armed with an RNZ flagged microphone – I greeted people as I always do, by telling them I was an RNZ reporter.

    That’s when I was attacked.

    A tall blonde man tried to rip my face mask off, grabbed my ear and around my head.

    He yelled that covid-19 was a myth, aggressively asked why I needed the mask, and said none of the pandemic was real.

    Fortunately, I know how to handle myself and got out of the situation quick smart, but these situations are not isolated.

    Other reporters have talked about overly aggressive anti-lockdown, covid-19 conspiracy theorists confronting them while they’ve been working.

    Usually, we only see it online through social media, or in our email inbox from the brave few using creative pseudonyms.

    Tide is changing
    But if Tuesday night is any indication, the tide is changing. And it is not just the media who are noticing the swell of covid-19 discontent or disbelief.

    Police arrested three people involved in an anti-lockdown protest in Christchurch on Thursday, after a group of 10 people gathered on the Bridge of Remembrance on Cashel Street.

    Last time out, the police took an “educational approach”, telling people to pull their heads in and head home.

    This time, they are acting far quicker in locking them up.

    That is because they see the rise in this behaviour too, want to send a clear message to those who believe in “alternative facts”, and want to knock it on the head.

    It has also been noticed by supermarket workers, bus drivers, airline staff, and any number of frontline workers across the country.

    There are reports of people being kept off flights because they refuse to wear a mask.

    Arrested in Northland
    Police arrested two people in Northland on Wednesday for that very offence, and because they acted in a threatening manner towards supermarket staff at a Pak N Save.

    The protests, the arrests, the number of people requiring “education” from the police are small compared to the vast numbers who are complying with restrictions.

    But they are the tip of a digital iceberg, with a large online community which is consistently growing, feeding on the idea that covid-19 is either a hoax or perhaps a plandemic.

    We all have an uncle, or a sister-in-law, or a neighbour, who tries to tell us the truth as they see it.

    But how many people do they convince? How many people are now second guessing getting a vaccine because of misleading scientific “evidence” one of these people has been talking about?

    It’s a dangerous situation we find ourselves in.

    With anger and misinformation swelling like a tumour, there is added pressure on the government in these coming days and weeks to make the right decisions in steering the country through this current outbreak.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Positive covid-19 cases confirmed in Wellington, reports RNZ

    These would be the first positive cases in this latest outbreak outside of Auckland and Coromandel.

    The Ministry of Health has declined to comment at this stage.

    A ministry spokesperson said all confirmed cases of covid-19 would be announced “as soon as practicable”.

    The government is due to announce any changes to the lockdown at 3pm.

    In Auckland, there are 22 active cases of covid-19 in the community.

    North Shore Hospital case
    North Shore Hospital is taking action after it was confirmed a patient, who has now tested positive, was treated there.

    The hospital has closed its emergency department and short stay surgical unit.

    NZ Post today also revealed it had a positive case – a temporary member of their processing team working at their Auckland Operations Centre in Highbrook.

    In a statement it said the worker was last at work on Monday and they have not attended work since they became sick.

    It is not clear if this case has already been included in the Ministry of Health’s list of positive cases.

    The delta variant outbreak has been linked to a person who travelled to New Zealand from NSW on August 7 and transferred to hospital on August 16.

    Locations of interest can be found on the Ministry of Health website as they become available.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ’s covid-19 outbreak linked to case from Australia – now 21 cases

    RNZ News

    New Zealand’s current cases of covid-19 — the first community outbreak for six months — have been linked to a traveller who arrived from Australia and was taken to Middlemore Hospital earlier this week.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield have provided a covid-19 update on day two of the nationwide lockdown, when it was revealed there were now 21 community cases.

    Ardern said the current positive cases had been linked via genome sequencing to a traveller who arrived from NSW on a managed red zone flight.

    That person returned a positive day one test on August 9 and was moved from the Crown Plaza hotel to the Jet Park facility.

    They were then transferred to Middlemore Hospital on August 16.

    Ardern said the period in which cases were in the community was relatively short, but new information could change this conclusion.

    She said primary lines of investigation were staff at the Crown Plaza, staff at the Jet Park facility and staff involved in their arrival and transport. Middlemore Hospital was not part of the investigation.

    Customs were investigating footage and identifying areas of interest and testing staff.

    “Nothing has eventuated from this line of inquiry to date,” she said.

    Staff at Jet Park and Crown Plaza were being retested.

    Watch the update 

    Today’s covid media briefing by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Video: RNZ News

    Ardern said a family adjacent to the case at the Crown Plaza had now tested positive for covid on their day 12 test.

    “That means we’re dealing with a high level of infectivity in this case.”

    She said everyone at the Crown Plaza would stay on while the usual protocols were undertaken.

    Ardern said while compliance across the managed isolation sites for vaccination had been very high, “we will continue our search in a thorough way across both sites as you would expect”.

    Ardern thanked the first positive case for getting tested.

    “If it wasn’t for you getting tested when you did, this could be a much much more difficult situation.

    “Having said that, we’re prepared for cases to get worse before they get better, that is always the pattern in these outbreaks. But today, we believe we’ve uncovered the piece of the puzzle we were looking for,” she said.

    United Against Covid-19
    A “stopping delta” promo advertisement of the Covid-19 United Against Covid-19 campaign mounted by the NZ government. Image: NZ govt flyer/APR

    Stamping out ability improved
    “That means our ability to circle the virus, lock it down, and stamp it out generally has greatly improved.”

    Dr Bloomfield said all cases in the community are being transferred safely to a quarantine facility or are already there.

    He said 12 of the 21 cases had already been confirmed as being part of the same Auckland cluster. A further eight wdere currently being investigated.

    “These new community cases are not unexpected, as the prime minister said, and we would expect the number of cases to continue to grow in particular because of the large number of locations of interest and the mobility of these cases over the few days before the lockdown started.”

    As of this morning, more than 360 individual contacts had been identified, although this did exclude contacts from large settings.

    Number will increase
    “Through the day-to-day, that number will increase significantly.”

    Dr Bloomfield said they were fielding a large number of complaints about people holding gatherings and they were being referred to police.

    “As you can see from that update, level 4 is where New Zealand needs to be at the moment,” Ardern said.

    Ardern said ministers would meet tomorrow morning to decide the lockdown level for the rest of the country outside Auckland and Coromandel. The decision would be shared at tomorrow’s 1pm update.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • NZ police chief says anti-lockdown protests ‘disappointing’

    RNZ News

    New Zealand police are out again today enforcing the rules of the level 4 lockdown concentrating on dealing with any illegal gatherings, ensuring all travel is essential and providing reassurance patrols at places like supermarkets.

    Yesterday there were eight arrests at anti-lockdown protests in Auckland and Whangarei and drivers across the country were checked to ensure travel was for essential purposes only.

    Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the delta variant was different and needed a firmer approach because any gathering was problematic.

    He said so far police had been pleased with people’s compliance with the rules.

    “Very good, we’re really pleased with the way things are going, you know it always takes a couple of days to settle down into the rhythm of this, but the vast majority of people have been doing exactly the right thing, so we’re very happy,” he said.

    Coster said yesterday’s anti-lockdown protests were disappointing and although police respected people’s right to protest now was not the time to be gathering.

    He said they expected that further protests could be a possibility and police would take a similar approach to yesterday when arrests were made.

    ‘We need to knuckle down’
    “You know people are entitled to express their views but we really just need to knuckle down and get through this and the more we do that the shorter this lockdown is likely to be.”

    Coster said about 40 percent of police staff were vaccinated but they would like that to be at 100 percent.

    “Clearly they’re out protecting our communities and obviously their risk level is higher as a result of doing that.

    “They’re all wearing protective equipment but we’re working as hard as we can to speed up that vaccination rate dependant on the ability to access vaccines and get it done.”

    Coster said the police internal vaccination programme would start up again tomorrow and it looked like they should be able to speed up the rate of vaccinations.

    He said today police would be focusing on any gatherings to ensure they were dealt with quickly, ensure that any movement on the roads was only for essential purposes and then reassurance patrols in areas such as supermarkets.

    Infected cluster could reach 120
    RNZ News reports the number of people infected with the delta variant could grow to 120 before the outbreak is brought under control, according to expert estimates.

    New Zealanders are being warned to expect more cases of covid 19 over the next few days, but a mathematician says the numbers depends how long it has been spreading undetected.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • I’m a Pediatric Surgeon in Louisiana Watching Kids Suffer From COVID. It’s Real.

    A medical worker administers a covid test on a child

    I am a simple country surgeon. I take care of children in Louisiana from birth until the hospital tells me they’re too old for our colorful walls and stickers. You will see these children when you stroll along New Orleans’s French Quarter, playing makeshift drums with their bands in Jackson Square or reaching out for beads along the St. Charles Mardi Gras parade route. You may forget about them after each hurricane fades from the news, but they are here, living, thriving and yearning for a normal that seems to fade deeper into their short memories. These children still come in waves through our doors at Children’s Hospital New Orleans after being shot; getting in a car accident; or experiencing a sickle cell crisis, cancer, premature birth, appendicitis or asthma exacerbations … and the pandemic has not spared them.

    This has been a hard year and a half for everyone, and it seems like with every wave it gets worse. Five days ago, after a particularly hard weekend on call, I pleaded with friends to reconsider their stances against masking, vaccinations and distancing. I have read the anti-masking and anti-vaccination posts and memes, and I desperately want to convince those with hesitation that COVID is real — and that this Delta wave is different, especially as it pertains to children. I want to emphasize that the vaccine has been tested and is safe for us, and can protect against severe sickness. Masking and distancing can minimize the risks of contracting or transmitting the virus. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, the largest hospital in Louisiana, has been pleading for a month that she and her colleagues are having to make decisions that should be unfathomable in the greatest nation in the world.

    It’s true that the vaccine is not 100 percent guaranteed against COVID — but what in life is guaranteed, except death? We say, “United we stand, divided we fall,” and yet, I can’t help thinking that we have already fallen.

    I wish I could invite those who are resisting anti-COVID measures to spend a day with us at the hospital. The majority of my day seems normal — operations, clinics, rounds — except that none of the operations are for children who require an overnight admission for a problem that is not time-sensitive, because our hospital is back to full capacity. Then I see a car full of kids who’ve been in an accident, and some test positive for COVID. They’re intubated due to other injuries, and I have to tell mom that her youngest child’s respiratory status may decline because of the virus, on top of the bruising to his lungs. Mom also tests positive, and now can only visit her children in the hospital while balancing the need to effectively isolate herself. Meanwhile, the room next door holds an immunocompromised child who does not have the defenses to fight a viral infection.

    I walk to the intensivist’s office to discuss our other COVID patients. Is the toddler on a ventilator getting better? How about the baby who has been on the most intense form of life support, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)? How do we balance the increased risk of blood clotting due to COVID with the fact that he has developed a brain bleed secondary to this life-sustaining therapy? This little guy only weighs a few pounds. He has required so many blood transfusions that it’s putting a strain on our already depleted blood bank. There is another baby who got COVID from a visiting family member because they didn’t want to miss out on snuggling even though they felt sick, and now is further isolated from his family. We have 15 to 20 other COVID-positive children who are currently admitted to the hospital.

    I know how to deal with stress. I completed five years of general surgery residency, two years in a research lab, and two years of pediatric surgery fellowship. I have seen death. I have learned from my complications. But this is different than stress. As doctors, we talk about wellness and resilience, moral distress and second victim injury. These are all real – the majority of us entered medicine because it was a calling, because we wanted to be healers. But it turns out we can’t save everyone by ourselves. We need all of your help to prevent the spread of COVID, so these beds, nurses, and resources remain available. Because each ECMO circuit, every ventilator, every bed that is taken up by COVID is going to be away from a baby with heart disease, a cancer patient, a child who needs surgery but can’t get it right now because we have no more staff. If you saw what these nurses saw and how hard they worked for the last year, you would understand why so many are leaving their calling. Morally, how am I supposed to choose between your child and someone else’s baby when we only have one ICU bed left?

    What haunts me most are the children I never get to meet. The other night, I had to say no to a transfer because area hospitals are full for ECMO capability, and we were also reaching capacity. It reminded me of the time, as a fellow, I received a frantic call from a nearby hospital of a toddler who had been shot in the abdomen. The desperation from the other ER physician as he described the distended abdomen, most certainly full of blood, in a small body that he was doing his best to pump blood back into. “What can I do?” he asked. I attempted to talk him through a resuscitative thoracotomy. “Cut his chest open. Open the pericardium. Cross clamp the aorta and keep doing compressions. If you get a heartbeat back, send him here as fast as you can.” I never met that child, but I will never forget his parents, frantically looking for their baby boy in our hospital hallways because they were told he was coming to us. They were covered in blood, pleading for any information anyone may have, unsure of where to go to find their baby — and their eyes emptying as I had to tell them that he never made it to us.

    If you know me, you know I’m arrogant enough to think I can fix almost anything. However, I can’t fix someone that I never get to meet. Many hospitals are at the point where we have to say “no.” North Texas is out of pediatric ICU beds. University of Mississippi is setting up patient care areas in the parking garage. Patients are getting ICU level care in the ER hallways. In Baton Rouge, Dr. O’Neal has been unable to accept transfers for a month — 20 to 25 “nos” a day. My vascular surgeon colleague at the same hospital in Baton Rouge could not accept a transfer of a patient with a clot in the leg because the hospital was full. I can only imagine that without the time-sensitive intervention required, this person has lost their leg. They never got to meet the doctor who could fix their problem.

    I am a simple country surgeon. I am not an expert in public health or infectious disease, but I am pretty good at fixing kids with a scalpel. Help us to keep helping these kids, your kids, by allowing me to do my job to the full capacity I can. Please, vaccinate if you qualify. Continue to wear a mask and wash your hands. Stay home if you’re sick. These are clear ways to save children’s lives — and prevent their lives from being endangered in the first place.

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • NZ lockdown streets silenced, 10 covid cases, police make ‘conspiracy’ arrests

    RNZ News

    New Zealand’s streets were largely silent today as the three-day nationwide alert-level 4 lockdown kicked in with 10 cases of covid-19 reported so far — the first outbreak for more than six months.

    As test results rolled in this morning, it was announced four other people were covid-19 positive. The new cases were linked to Case A, a 58-year-old Devonport tradesman, diagnosed with the virus yesterday.

    It was subsequently confirmed he had the delta variant, something health experts already took for granted.

    Two more cases were announced at the 1pm media briefing by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, again all linked to Case A, and another three were added to the total towards the end of the day.

    The three include a 60-year-old woman who has no known link to the existing cluster, but does have a link to the border.

    The other two are a man in his 20s who is the partner of a known case who was reported as a positive case this morning; and a woman in her 20s who has a connection with another case reported today.

    Two of the cases announced at 1pm today have also now been linked to existing cases, including a female teenager who was a close contact of a case reported today and a man in his 20s who visited the household where three of the cases reported today live.

    AUT student among cases
    An Auckland University of Technology student who was at a lecture yesterday is also among the new cases of covid-19 reported in the community today. The student was infectious when attending a social institutions lecture in room WG403 on AUT’s City Campus between 11.30am and 1pm yesterday.

    August 2021 Community Cases Covid Delta variant
    The first seven cases in the delta variant outbreak of covid-19 New Zealand. A further three have been announced – two connected to the cluster, and one who is not, but has a link to the border. Graphic: Vinay Ranchhod/RNZ

    Other positive cases

    • A 29-year-old workmate of Case A
    • A 25-year-old female teacher at Avondale College who is a flatmate of Case A’s workmate.
    • An Auckland City Hospital nurse, 21, a flatmate of Case A’s workmate. She was fully vaccinated and had worked four shifts not knowing she had the virus.
    • A 20-year-old man, a flatmate of Case A’s workmate.
    • Two friends of those living in the flat tested positive – a 21-year-old woman and a man aged 19.
    • A man in his 20s who is the partner of a known case, and a woman in her 20s who has a connection to the other cases.
    • A woman in her 60s who does not have a connection to the other nine cases but does have a connection to the border.

    Further details about the three most recent cases will be announced at the 1pm update tomorrow.

    Ardern this afternoon also confirmed genome sequencing had linked Case A to the New South Wales outbreak.

    She said three people had tested positive with this covid strain in New Zealand managed isolation facilities, including two this month. It will be known later this evening if Case A’s strain matched either of these strains in managed isolation.

    Locations of interest have spiralled in light of the cases and the Ministry of Health is regularly updating these on its website.

    It was announced that one of the women infected had visited a North Shore church on Sunday morning and also gone to a nightclub in Auckland’s central city on Sunday night.

    Central Auckland Church of Christ in Freemans Bay and SkyCity Casino are being treated as important locations of interest.

    Dr Bloomfield and modeller Professor Michael Plank said cases of the delta variant could exceed 100, but that the hard lockdown would give authorities time to stamp it out.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern kept media informed of developments. Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

    Mask-wearing made mandatory
    The government made it mandatory to wear masks while visiting essential services, including supermarkets and petrol stations.

    Speaking to media this afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “From 11.50pm tonight, it will be mandatory for everyone aged 12 and over to wear a mask when they are visiting any of the essential services that are currently open, including supermarkets, pharmacies and service stations.”

    Staff will also be required to wear a mask. Mandatory mask use includes places like bus terminals and taxis.

    Supermarket panic buying
    Meanwhile, supermarkets have experienced a run on products, with stocks being diminished as people panic-buy items during lockdown.

    Supermarket chain Countdown is continuing to limit the amount of some products people can buy in Auckland and the Coromandel, as shelves empty fast.

    Countdown also says it has purchased an extra 2000 crates of fresh fruit and vegetables to boost its fresh produce supply.

    Finance Minister backs recovery
    Also addressing media today was Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who said he was confident the the economy would be resilient in the face of the current outbreak.

    Robertson yesterday announced businesses that had a 40 percent drop in revenue would be eligible for the wage subsidy scheme and could also apply for the resurgence support payment.

    He said the government did not need to take on additional borrowing at this time.

    “Clearly if we were in a situation as we were last year and we had a very extended lockdown, the Reserve Bank would look at what its role is.”

    Fear of Aucklanders taking delta to holiday homes
    Residents in Northland said today they were concerned to see high traffic levels heading up highways, fearing Aucklanders were coming en masse to stay in holiday bachs, potentially bringing the delta variant with them.

    Police turned back vehicles heading into the Coromandel and urged the public not to set up their own checkpoints.

    Vaccinations to resume
    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this afternoon a resumption of vaccinations, paused to ensure public safety during the transition to alert level 4 lockdown.

    Ardern said plans are being activated for all DHBs to resume vaccinations under level 4 conditions, and in some cases they would resume today.

    She said people who had booked in for a vaccine for tomorrow onwards should go to receive the jab, even if they had not heard anything.

    “To put it bluntly if you’ve had the vaccine you are less likely to catch covid-19 and much less likely to get sick or die,” she told the 1pm media briefing.

    Approximately 50 people attended an anti-lockdown protest in Auckland’s CBD. Photo: RNZ / Katie Doyle

    Conspiracy theorist arrested
    While people adjusted to the new health crisis, other less well-adjusted came out on the the streets to protest what they claimed was an unjust infringement of civil liberties.

    Prominent conspiracy theorist Billy TK led the small crowd of about 50 protesters outside TVNZ’s HQ in Auckland and was arrested by police. Police confirmed four arrests and four further arrests at a protest in Tauranga.

    Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said police would not hesitate to arrest people at unlawful gatherings during lockdown.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • AUT student among 10 new delta cases of covid-19 in NZ lockdown

    An Auckland University of Technology (AUT) student who was at a lecture yesterday is among the 10 new cases of covid-19 reported in the community in New Zealand today.

    This takes the total to 11 cases of the highly infectious delta variant since the first one was announced yesterday.

    There were three new community cases of covid-19 reported this evening by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office. More details on the new cases will be revealed tomorrow.

    The AUT student was at a social sciences lecture at the school’s City Campus between 11.30am and 1pm yesterday.

    The school has identified 84 other people who were at the lecture.

    Speaking to RNZ Checkpoint, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins also confirmed there had been new cases.

    “We’re seeing more cases coming through, I don’t have details of those cases. But yes, I can confirm that we have further positive test results since the press conference today.”

    Not the index case
    Hipkins also said it was “almost certain” the first case announced yesterday, a 58-year-old Devonport man, was not the index case connected to the border.

    “Almost certain they were given covid-19 by someone else. What we’re trying to do is identify how many steps in that chain of transmission there are before we got to the Devonport case.”

    He added that a decision on vaccinating people under 16 years old for covid-19 would come soon.

    “I’m not announcing something on your show tonight but you can expect to hear more very shortly on that.”

    Meanwhile, the Countdown supermarket chain is continuing to limit the amount of some products people can buy in Auckland and the Coromandel, as shelves empty in the latest lockdown.

    The supermarket applied a limit of six on some products yesterday evening, which includes toilet paper, flour, bags of rice, dry pasta, UHT milk, frozen vegetables, baby formula and pet food.

    It says it will monitor stock levels around the country and will make changes to limits if needed.

    Countdown also says it has purchased an extra 2000 crates of fresh fruit and vegetables to boost its fresh produce supply.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Auckland nurse worked four shifts not knowing she had virus – 7 delta cases

    Today’s New Zealand covid-19 media briefing. Video: RNZ News

    RNZ News

    The Auckland Hospital nurse who has tested positive for covid-19 worked four shifts not knowing she had the virus, says New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

    The 21-year-old nurse is a flatmate of a man who worked with the first case to be discovered and announced yesterday. She was fully vaccinated, the Ministry of Health said earlier.

    Auckland Hospital had written to all staff asking them to stay home if unwell, to wear masks and to restrict their movement around the central city buildings as much as possible.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there had not been any cases from New South Wales at Auckland Hospital.

    Dr Bloomfield said there was no suggestion that the nurse worked in any other health facilities.

    There are two new cases of covid-19 in the community, in addition to the four announced earlier today.

    Dr Bloomfield said that brought the total number of community cases to seven.

    All case friends
    He said the two new cases were linked to the current outbreak and were in Auckland. They are friends with the four cases reported this morning.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield
    NZ’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield … with the latest cases being active young people in their 20s, many locations of interest are expected. Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

    Dr Bloomfield said there were also three cases in managed isolation.

    The other four cases found earlier today include a work colleague of the case found yesterday, who is a 20-year-old man. He has three flatmates — including the Auckland Hospital nurse — and has been working in recent days.

    There is also a 25-year-old teacher at Avondale College and a 29-year-old man.

    The two more recent cases found today include a 21-year-old woman and 19-year-old man who both live in Auckland and are linked to the current cases as friends.

    The wife of the original case has returned a second negative test.

    Dr Bloomfield said contact tracing capacity had been increased, and with the latest cases being active young people in their 20s, there were expected to be many locations of interest.

    Locations updating
    Those locations would be constantly updated as more information comes to hand, he said.

    Dr Bloomfield said calls to Healthline should be restricted to seeking a test.

    On genome sequencing, Prime Minister Ardern said overnight it has been confirmed that the outbreak was the delta variant, and that it was linked to the NSW outbreak.

    She said only three positive cases had arrived into MIQ from Sydney since 1 July. One on August 9 on their day 1 test, and two on August 14 on their day three test.

    These three cases were being genome sequenced right now, as part of the usual processes, Ardern said.

    Ardern said everyone who came from NSW and Queensland was compliant with the travel restrictions.

    She said despite that, the government was preparing to contact all cases who had arrived from Australia should they find the community case was not linked to the three positive cases from MIQ.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Cook Islands suspends travel bubble with New Zealand – 5 delta cases

    Cook Islands News

    Cook Islands has suspended the travel bubble with New Zealand after NZ officials reported new covid-19 community cases in Auckland.

    Four new community cases have been reported by health authorities — including an Auckland nurse — taking the total to five.

    The new cases are all linked to yesterday’s first case in Auckland, which has been confirmed as delta variant.

    “While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” said Prime Minister Mark Brown.

    This alert level change will mean that international inwards passenger arrivals for 72 hours through to Thursday have been suspended.

    The pause on international arrivals will allow Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health to test arriving passengers from August 11.

    This also means domestic travel to the Pa Enua from Rarotonga is suspended until Thursday.

    Passengers can return to NZ
    Passengers can return to New Zealand from Rarotonga. Passengers from Pa Enua can return back to Rarotonga.

    The alert level change and travel bubble suspension was announced after a 58-year-old Devonport man tested positive yesterday in Auckland, New Zealand, after visiting a GP. He was infectious from August 12.

    The man, who was not vaccinated, and his wife travelled to Coromandel over the weekend. His wife was fully vaccinated.

    He is considered to have become infectious on August 12. There were 23 locations of interest, 10 in Auckland and 13 in Coromandel.

    Auckland and Coromandel went into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of New Zealand for three days – from 11.59pm (NZ time) last night.

    While announcing the nationwide alert level change last night, Prime Minister Brown said the Cabinet made the decision based on the information available “at this time, all necessary precautions have been considered”.

    “While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” Brown said.

    Cooks Cabinet to meet
    “This is a good time to remind ourselves of the need to practice good hygiene measures, and to actively tag in with Cooksafe and Cooksafe+.”

    The Cook Islands Cabinet will meet again today to consider new updated information received and next steps.

    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last night the positive case could not be confirmed as delta until genome sequencing was confirmed today, but every recent MIQ case had been delta.

    Today Ardern confirmed that all five cases were the delta variant.

    “We’ve seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours … the (family) bubble is back,” she said.

    Ardern said the delta variant was potentially twice as infectious and more liable to cause severe illness.

    “We are one of the last countries in the world to have the delta variant in our community. This has given us the chance to learn from others.”

    She said delta was a “game-changer” and there needed to be a rapid response to stop the spread.

    “We only get one chance.”

    Ardern said physical distancing was even more important given how easily delta can be transmitted – including through the air. There would be a 48-hour window for people to relocate in New Zealand.

    Cook Islands News stories are republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ declares national level 4 lockdown over covid community case

    RNZ News

    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced an alert-level 4 lockdown starting at 11.59pm tonight for seven days in Auckland and Coromandel, and three days elsewhere.

    Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield briefed media after a Cabinet meeting on the covid-19 community case identified in Auckland today.

    The Ministry of Health announced about 2.30pm today a new case had been found in the community in Auckland, saying a link between the case and the border or managed isolation had not been established.

    Health officials had been interviewing the case so contacts could be traced and any locations of interest identified.

    This evening health officials released five locations of interest in the Coromandel, which has been published on the Ministry of Health website.

    In announcing the government’s decision, Ardern said going hard and early had worked before and that the delta variant was harder to combat.

    Dr Bloomfield said they were assuming it was the delta variant. The man, a 58-year-old male from Devonport, on Auckland’s North Shore, lives with his wife.

    She was tested yesterday and returned a negative test.

    Vaccinations have also been paused for 48 hours.

    Dr Bloomfield thanked the person who tested positive for going for a test and emphasised that although the man was not vaccinated, he had been booked in.

    Watch the media briefing here. Video: RNZ News

    Ardern said it had not been a matter of if but when the variant arrived in the community.

    “I want to assure New Zealand that we have planned for that eventuality and that we will now be putting in place that plan to contain and stamp out covid-19 once again,” Ardern said.

    “Going hard and early has worked for us before, while we know that delta is a more dangerous enemy to combat the same actions that overcame the virus last year can be applied to beat it again.”

    The couple visited Coromandel last week, Dr Bloomfield said. They returned on August 15.

    The man is a frequent user of the covid-19 tracer app.

    Five locations of interest in Coromandel

    Locations of interest have been identified in both Coromandel and in Auckland.

    The contact tracing locations of interest include Star and Garter Hotel, Umu Cafe, BP Gas Station on Tiki Rd and Taras Beads. The man visited them between August 13 and 15.

    Current locations of interest in New Zealand

    Locations of interest NZ 170821
    Locations of interest announced tonight.

    Further locations between Coromandel and Auckland are likely to be identified.

    Dr Bloomfield said there would be additional testing centres in Auckland tomorrow and all district health boards would ensure efficient testing capacity.

    Last wastewater testing on North Shore on August 11 has returned negative results.

    “This case was identified in Auckland but it is a national issue,” Dr Bloomfield said.

    Ardern said New Zealand was one of the last countries to experience a case of delta. It was a “game changer” and the country only had one chance to get on top of it, she said.

    Dr Ashley Bloomfield
    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield … reassuring that wastewater tests on North Shore had so far not detected any signs of covid-19. Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

    “We have made decisions on the basis it is better to start high then go down levels,” she said.

    New Zealand had seen overseas the consequences of not acting quickly enough, she added.

    Lift our game
    The underlying principal of level 4 was to reduce contact to a bare minimum, Ardern said.

    “Beating delta means lifting our game,” she said. “I ask New Zealanders to please follow the rules to the letter.”

    People must stay at home in level 4, only leaving for essential services, she said. “And if you undertake these activities, please wear a mask when you leave your house.”

    “Stay 2m away from anyone you pass, don’t congregate and don’t stop to talk to your neighbours,” she said.

    “We know from evidence overseas, that the delta variant can spread just by walking past someone.

    “If you are completely isolated or live alone, remember you can join a bubble with one other person…it must just be one other person though.”

    The public can drive locally to essential services, such as the supermarket, but need to stay 2m away from others and wear a mask. The public are asked to wear a mask when they go out anywhere.

    “Remember to always act like you have covid-19. Stay clear of others and don’t put them in harm’s way,” Ardern said.

    The government will provide the necessary financial support over the coming period.

    Vaccinations suspended
    Ardern said vaccinations would be suspended for 48 hours, but vaccinated people must follow the rules like everybody else.

    Dr Bloomfield echoed her warning and said even with high vaccination rates, the country would still need to have public health measures in place.

    Health officials will be looking at what extra protocols might need to be put in place before the vaccination campaign resumes.

    Dr Bloomfield said it was reassuring wastewater testing in Auckland last week did not show any signs of covid-19, which indicated infection was not widespread.

    Dr Bloomfield says the most important thing is to stop the outbreak, which requires stopping people’s movement.

    Ardern and Dr Bloomfield will provide another media update at 1pm tomorrow.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.