‘Big questions’: New Zealand’s COVID minister casts doubt on justice strategy | New Zealand

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The arrival of the Delta strain in New Zealand has prompted the country’s Covid-19 response minister to question the effectiveness of its ambitious elimination strategy – an approach that has been the backbone of the country’s response to the pandemic.

Chris Hepkins told current affairs program Q+A Sunday that Delta has raised “big questions about the future of our long-term plans.”

“Delta raises some big questions that we’re going to have to deal with, you know less than 24 hours for someone to get it and pass it on to others…that’s like anything we’ve dealt with in this pandemic away, and it changes everything.”

“This means that all of our current protections … start to appear less adequate and less robust as a result we are looking more closely at what we can do there. At some point, we will have to start to be more open in the future.”

The comments come as the country, which is currently under a nationwide lockdown, is grappling with a growing outbreak that has spread from Auckland to Wellington. So far, 72 community cases and more than 300 sites of potential exposure have been reported, including schools, universities, hospitals, churches, bars, restaurants, airports and a casino. Nearly 10,000 close contacts are being tested across the country.

Linking the genome sequence cluster to the yield from Australia. It is not yet known how the virus was transmitted from the quarantined traveler to the community. Health officials are now investigating a path near the exercise area at the quarantine facility, which has been separated from the public with road cones and a fence.

New Zealand’s minister for Covid-19 response, Chris Hepkins, says Delta’s arrival in the country raises ‘big questions’ about how robust its health measures are. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Hipkins’ comments were a departure from the government’s usual messaging on an exclusion strategy.

Earlier in the month, when announcing plans to reopen New Zealand’s borders, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country would continue to follow its response to the removal, adding that it would be a “careful approach saying, there will be no cases, but when there is one.” In society, we crush it.”

Over the past two months, New Zealand has looked at exclusion success stories across the Asia-Pacific region battling the delta variant. Hong Kong, Australia, China, Taiwan and Singapore – all have achieved or come close to elimination. Delta reached them all, and many struggled to contain it.

Epidemiologist Michael Baker told RNZ that an exclusion strategy is necessary in the medium term, until more of the population is vaccinated.

“In many ways, we are buying time to learn more about how to manage this virus in the long term.”

That could move to the suppression strategy, which aims to keep the number of cases very low, later in the year or early next, Baker said.

Vaccine rollout has been ramped up since the outbreak. On Saturday, more than 52,000 doses were administered – bringing the total number of doses to 2.75 million. Less than a million people are now fully vaccinated – a fifth of the population.

The government has also increased protection requirements, including making check-in mandatory in all front-facing “high-risk” businesses such as bars and restaurants, at all alert levels. The new rules will start within a week after the closing alert level is lowered from the current setting, Level 4. Businesses may face fines if the new rules are not enforced. Wearing masks has also become mandatory for people who visit essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies.

Digital contact tracing has been low in New Zealand, perhaps driven by complacency, as the country has been largely shielded from the coronavirus.

Dr Andrew Chin, from the Koi Tū Think Tank: Center for the Informed Future at the University of Auckland, said modeling from research institute Te Punaha Matatini showed that there should be at least 60%, and preferably 80%, of adults involved in the digital realm. . Contact tracing to have a beneficial effect on the reproduction rate of Covid-19. Before the current outbreak, only 10% of New Zealanders were scanning with QR codes, and between 35% and 40% were using Bluetooth tracking.

“With the delta variable, we need the engagement rate to be higher than ever,” he said.

He said the government still had to do some work to ensure the new rules did not raise ethical issues around allowing people to access services, if they refused, or could not participate in record keeping. Chen said reducing digital exclusion – 20% of New Zealand adults do not have access to a smartphone – should also be included in the government’s strategy.

Ardern will update the nation later on Monday on whether the current lockdown settings, in place until midnight Tuesday, will be extended.

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