20,000+ Daily Vaccine Doses; No Community Cases; Two Historical Cases In Managed Isolation; Rio De La Plata Update

More than 2.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to date (to 11.59pm on 8 August). Of these, 1.38 million are first doses and 820,000 are second doses.

More than 122,000 Māori have received their first vaccination. Of these, more than 76,000 have also had their second vaccinations.

More than 83,000 doses have been administered to Pacific peoples. Of these, around 52,000 have also received their second doses.

Yesterday, a total of 20,209 doses were administered, including 15,601 first doses and 4,608 second doses.

COVID-19 cases update 
There are no cases of COVID-19 to report in the community today.

There are two new cases of COVID-19 to report in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities, since the Ministry’s last update yesterday.

There are two additional historical cases of COVID-19 to report in MIQ today.

Ten previously reported cases have now recovered, with the number of active cases in New Zealand at 36.

Since 1 January 2021, there have been 116 historical cases, out of a total of 716 cases.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is two.

Our total number of confirmed cases is 2,534.

New border cases in New Zealand

*These two cases were in the same travel bubble.

The travel history for four cases reported yesterday, who arrived on 7 August, have now been obtained – these cases flew from Malaysia via Singapore to New Zealand.

Historical cases identified at the border

Rio De La Plata update

Testing at Port of Tauranga is under way for workers who had contact with the container ship Rio De La Plata, now identified as having a number of COVID-19 positive crew onboard.

Testing of the crew of the container ship, currently at sea off the coast of Tauranga, has returned positive results for 11 of the 21 crew on board, with one test result currently indeterminant.

The crew have been informed of the positive COVID-19 test results and, as of Monday morning, crew members on board are reported to be well.

Officials have worked with employers to identify 94 port workers who had contact with the ship, unloading cargo in shifts over the four-day period it was berthed at Port of Tauranga from 6pm on Wednesday 4 August to 2pm on Saturday 7 August.

All have been contacted, told to isolate awaiting a negative COVID-19 test result, and are being tested for COVID-19 today. So far, 91 workers have been tested, as of 11.30am. The first results are expected later today.

Some workers will require a second test, based on their contact with the ship, and will be required to remain in isolation until the result of those second tests are known.

The Ministry understands from local public health staff that all infection prevention controls, and PPE protocol, were followed by port workers who had contact with the ship during their duties.

Mattina update

The Mattina remains in quarantine at a secure berth in Bluff.

As of Monday morning, 13 of the original 21 mariners remain on board the vessel.

On Saturday, five mariners were released after 14 days in managed isolation. These mariners have consistently returned negative COVID-19 test results.

One mariner, who was transferred off the boat at a later date, remains in a managed isolation facility in Christchurch.

Two further mariners, who both required hospital care, have been discharged, and are in Southern DHB-arranged accommodation where their health can continue to be monitored and treated. The Ministry understands from Southern DHB that the mariners are recovering well.

Every possible public health precaution is being taken to care for the mariners in a way that provides the health care they need, and keeps health workers, port workers and the community safe.

Returnees from Australia

We are continuing to remind anyone who returned from Queensland on return flights last week to keep checking locations

Queensland Health website

and monitor for any symptoms of COVID-19.

If people have been at a location of interest at the relevant time, they should immediately isolate at home or appropriate accommodation and call Healthline on

0800 358 5453

for advice on testing. New locations of interest have also been added for

Victoria

and

Western Australia

.

Contact tracing staff have also identified 2,995 people who returned on managed flights from Victoria between 25 and 30 July and have been required under a section 70 notice to isolate until a negative day 3 test.

Of those 2,848 have so far returned a negative test; six have returned overseas and don’t need to be followed up; and 91 have been granted a clinical exemption.

Public health officials consider those remaining people, who have not yet provided a negative COVID-19 test, as low risk to the New Zealand community and, therefore, no further action is deemed necessary at this stage.

Testing

The total number of COVID-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,525,687.

Yesterday, 2,044 tests were processed across New Zealand.

The seven-day rolling average is 5,445.

For all testing locations nationwide visit the

Healthpoint

website.

NZ COVID Tracer

NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,912,151 registered users.

Poster scans have reached 319,963,914 and users have created 12,569,574 manual diary entries.

There have been 473,693 scans in the past 24 hours to midday yesterday.

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