The Ministry of Health has revealed there are no new Covid-19 cases today after revelations of two new cases and an "unacceptable" border blunder yesterday.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern fronted a press conference at 1.30pm labelling the blunder "unacceptable" and said the military will now oversee quarantine and isolation facilities.
Yesterday, New Zealand ended its 24-day streak of no new cases when it was revealed two women who later tested positive for the virus were allowed to leave managed self-isolation to travel to Wellington to grieve the sudden passing of their parent.
There have been 320 close contacts identified with the two new Covid-19 cases.
Most of their contacts would be contacted by the end of the day and will be encouraged to be tested.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield accepted responsibility for the failings that allowed two women to leave their quarantine hotel without being tested.
- 'No lockdown success story': NZ slated over Covid cases
- Under-fire govt admits system failure
- Compassionate exemptions from quarantine halted
320 close contacts
The Ministry of Health said 320 people had been identified close contacts.
The majority of these will have been contacted by the end of the day.
All of these people will be encouraged to get a test.
The two women reported as confirmed cases yesterday remained in self-isolation and were doing well.
There was one family member isolating with them who is being monitored daily by the local public health unit. The Ministry of Health was managing wider contact tracing from the National Contact Tracing unit.
"We are treating anyone on the flight or in the facility at the same time as the cases as if they are close contacts who have potentially been exposed.
"We are getting them all tested and isolated until a negative result is received."
"We are confident there was no contact made with anyone on the journey between Auckland and Wellington."
Tests should have happened - PM
Ardern said tests on day three and day 12 should have happened and there were "no excuses".
The border controls must be rigorous and disciplined, and need to have the confidence of ministers as well as all New Zealanders.
She said assistant chief of defence Air Commodore Darren Digby Webb would oversee all quarantine and isolation facilities.
The suspension of all compassionate leave would remain for now.
She said the new cases did not change New Zealand's Covid status, and new cases were always expected to come in through the border.
Everyone who came into contact with the women would all be tested as per system protocols.
It was unacceptable that procedures that were supposed to be in place were not.
She said it was up to Bloomfield to decide where responsibility for the failure lay.
She said the military brought the discipline required for what is a complicated logistical exercise.
Government Ministers had been told that everyone coming in from the border was going to be tested twice, and Ardern said she believed there was a legal mechanism to enforce that.
Because testing could provide a false negative, everyone was also isolated for 14 days.
She said Bloomfield was looking at what had happened. Suspending compassionate leave would not be popular, but she said it was more important to ensure New Zealanders were kept safe.
Ministers understood protocols were in place but "in this case that is not what has happened".
She did not know how many of the 200-odd people granted compassionate leave had been released without being tested, saying the Health Ministry was working through that.
She said caution was needed at the border in light of louder calls for more open borders. There was still a need for New Zealand to be "extraordinarily careful ... and I send that message to the Opposition".
Health Minister to keep his job
On whether David Clark should be sacked as Health Minister, Ardern said Clark was in the same position as she was in that they both understood the proper protocols were in place.
She said Clark had been part of the successful Covid response and would keep his job. They were both focused on fixing the problem.
"He is part of fixing this issue, not part of the problem."
Teens absconded
She said the two teenagers in Hamilton who attended a funeral had absconded rather than been granted leave.
Bloomfield accepts responsibility
Dr Bloomfield provided updated information around the two active cases announced yesterday and took responsibility for the border failings.
"We have always expected that New Zealand would get more cases of COVID-19, especially with more people from overseas coming into the country,”
"Covid-19 remains a serious pandemic continuing to affect many countries. We are not immune to further cases arriving on our shores.
"The risk of spread of Covid-19 from these two cases while they were travelling to New Zealand and in the managed isolation facility they were in is low but not impossible, so we are ensuring all steps are in place to mitigate the risk.
"As Director-General of Health, I have overall system responsibility for the health operations of our self-isolation facilities and exemptions.
"In this instance, these individuals should have been tested prior to leaving the managed isolation facility.
"I am taking responsibility for ensuring this does not happen again.
With ODT
"We have put in place a number of actions to provide the public and Government assurance that anyone arriving into New Zealand does not pose any risk from Covid-19."
Actions taken to date include:
- Ensuring that no one leaves a managed isolation facility without having had a negative Covid-19 test including those on compassionate grounds
- Ensuring that all people in isolation are tested on around days 3 and 12.
Yesterday, it was revealed two women who later tested positive for the virus were allowed to leave managed self-isolation to travel to Wellington to grieve the sudden passing of their parent.
They were not tested before they left on the condition they were tested in Wellington, which returned positive results.
One of the women had mild symptoms before being tested, but it was put down to a pre-existing condition.
Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday their conditions might have been picked up if the daily health check in managed isolation had been done properly, including asking them about every individual Covid-19 symptom.
The two infected women had been staying at the hotel since they arrived on a flight from the United Kingdom, via Brisbane, on Sunday, June 7. They left the hotel on Saturday, June 13, to drive to Wellington without being tested.
Guests at the Novotel Auckland hotel where the women were in managed isolation are being told to stay in their rooms.
All leave for compassionate reasons has temporarily been stopped until the Government "has confidence" in the system.
All guests and staff will be tested within 24 hours and anyone due to check out yesterday or today will now have their stay extended.
The new cases broke New Zealand's 24-day streak without a new case,
The border blunder has caused widespread outrage.
Ardern said in a Facebook Live post on Tuesday evening that standards had not been met.
"This case is clear - our expectations ... have not been met in this instance," she said.
Health Minister David Clark said there would be consequences if it was found people had failed their duties.
"I am quite certain that people who have made this mistake will not be making it again."
This morning, Police Minister Stuart Nash told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that someone needed to be held to account and called the blunder "unacceptable".
"To get this sort of ineptitude, man it is unforgivable. As David [Clark] said, he's cancelled compassionate dispensation and there's a review of the system. Let's make sure it doesn't happen again."
