No room for complacency warns Medical Officer of Health

16 Apr 2020, 14:13

For the third consecutive day, the Ministry of Health reported no new cases of COVID-19 in Hawke’s Bay – the total for the region remains at 41. 

Medical Officer of Health Dr Nick Jones said while the news was pleasing, he warned there was no room for complacency. 

“Whilst we can take some comfort in our numbers remaining static, we would be foolish to think we are out of the woods just yet. 

“It remains very important for anyone feeling unwell to contact their GP or Healthline on 0800 358 5453 to be assessed for testing at a community-based assessment centre.  There is no cost to this and we have the testing capacity,” he said. 

Yesterday Dr Jones asked all frontline healthcare workers across the region to step up their testing regimes and refer anyone showing symptoms, even mild, to community-based assessment centres for testing. 

Testing was particularly important for essential service workers who were feeling unwell, given they had spent more time out of their bubble during the Level 4 lockdown period, he said. 

To date 2451 people have now been swabbed across the region. 

“The more we test, the more accurate our picture will become of whether there is any wider spread in our region,” explained Dr Jones.

“Our public health team continue to work closely with confirmed or probable cases and contacts of cases to ensure containment and isolation is maintained to stop the spread.

“I’d like to commend the meticulous work our public health, infectious disease and infection prevention and control teams have been doing in this space, as well as thank those affected by COVID-19 who continue to follow our advice to ensure there is no wider spread,” he said.

Of the 41 COVID-19 cases in the region, Dr Jones said 15 people had since recovered.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include cold or flu-like illness with one or more of the following: a cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, a runny nose or loss of smell.