The Hawke’s Bay DHB is now releasing Covid-19 case numbers according to district (Hastings, Napier, Wairoa, CHB), as well as figures on hospitalisations and recovered cases. Their daily Facebook posts are worth following for the latest, clearest information (@HawkesBayDHB) or you can check their website ourhealthhb.nz (under ‘news and events’).
For more details on national cases, clusters and data (from regional and ethnic breakdowns to age and gender stats) see the Ministry of Health website.
As of 7 April, total cases in the Bay remain at 33 (1 new case reported today – a ‘probable’ case from yesterday has since been reclassified as ‘under investigation’). There are 20 in Napier, 10 in Hastings, 3 in Wairoa and none in CHB.
There are currently 16 cases linked to the Ruby Princess cruise ship, 6 were passengers who returned to NZ from Australia; 4 were either a van driver, tour guide or translator who came into contact with passengers on 15 March in Napier; 6 are residents of Gladys Mary Care Home via one of those local workers.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says with the work undertaken by the scaled-up contact tracing centre in connection with laboratories, this week the government will be able to start showing the pattern of testing by region.
Meanwhile, Hawke’s Bay DHB’s medical officer Dr Nick Jones says there’s plenty of scope to ramp testing up here, now that that the case definition for testing has changed, removing the requirement for having been overseas or in contact with a confirmed case.
He says, “I strongly encourage people who develop a cold or flu-like illness and one of the following: a cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, a runny nose or loss of smell, regardless of whether or not they have a temperature, to call their GP or Healthline to be referred to one of our community testing stations.”
“We have the testing capacity, and New Zealand’s laboratories have the capacity to process the tests, so please take advantage of this.”