Ministry of Health Covid-19 update
July 16, 2020
There is one new case of Covid-19 to report in managed isolation in New Zealand today.
It has been 76 days since the last case of Covid-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source.
Today’s case is the child of two people previously reported as having Covid-19. They arrived in New Zealand from Italy on July 4. The family is in quarantine at the Commodore Hotel in Christchurch.
One previously reported case is now considered to have recovered, so the number of active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand remains at 27.
The total number of confirmed cases is now 1198, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization.
There is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care for Covid-19.
Yesterday our laboratories completed 2899 tests and 726 of those were taken at managed isolation or quarantine facilities. That brings the total number of tests completed to date to 436,233.
Testing
We have seen on social media reports that some people are concerned about being charged for Covid-19 tests.
We want to reiterate that there is no cost for an individual to be tested for Covid-19.
The Ministry of Health has negotiated an agreement with DHBs covering the costs of the diagnostic tests.
Anyone wanting advice on where to go to be tested, other than their own GP practice, can contact Healthline or their DHB.
NZ Covid Tracer
NZ Covid Tracer has now recorded 607,000 registrations, which is an increase of 11,000 on this time yesterday. The number of poster scans is now 1,441,911.
It’s understandable that people have not been keeping track of where they’ve been with NZ Covid Tracer since the move to Alert Level 1, but it’s important we all recognise there is an ongoing risk of a resurgence of Covid-19 and we can’t afford to be complacent.
The number of QR codes on display has been continuing to increase steadily – there are now 78,810 that have been created – but there are a still a number of businesses and public-facing organisations that haven’t yet got on board.
We know that a lot of businesses tried getting their QR codes in May but found the process overly complicated.
It’s important for all businesses to know the process is now much easier – it only takes a few minutes and all you need is your driver’s licence.
If you don’t have a driver’s licence, you can still get your QR code by completing a simple template and emailing it to the Ministry.
Businesses and organisations can get their QR codes by visiting qrform.tracing.covid19.govt.nz/ directly, or you can just click the links on the Ministry’s website.
