Hawke’s Bay has four newly confirmed cases of COVID-19. This takes the total COVID-19 cases in Hawke’s Bay to ten.
Hawke’s Bay District Health Board’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr Nick Jones said three of the new cases were returned from overseas travel and had done the right thing by going into immediate isolation upon return. They were recovering well.
The other case was a resident of Gladys Mary Care Home who had close contact to Hawke’s Bay’s third confirmed case (announced yesterday) which was not linked to overseas travel, but did have a connection to the cruise ship – The Ruby Princess.
“This resident is now in isolation and Infection prevention and public health teams have been working closely with Gladys Mary Care Home, which is closed to all visitors. The home has put all appropriate measures in place to help protect its residents and staff.
“Any close contacts identified are being monitored daily for symptoms,” he said.
Dr Jones said the DHB’s Public Health team and the National Contact Tracing Service are actively identifying close contacts the third confirmed case. Places where the person visited while in the early stages of illness before they recognised their symptoms, are listed below.
The locations are:
- Gladys Mary Care Home, Tamatea, 17, 18, 19 and 20th March
- Hohepa, Clive, 18 March
- Harvey Norman, Hastings -19 March 10am
- Cornocopia, Hastings, - 19 March
- Weleda, Havelock North, 19 March
- Te Mata Bakery, 19 March
- Mission Winery, 20 March (Note correction as originally advised as 19 March.)
Dr Jones called for calm and kindness as the likelihood of the infection being passed on while the person was visiting the locations listed were “extremely low”.
“Many of the places visited already had stringent hygiene measures in place at the time of the visit which will have reduced the risk to the wider public even further.
“To be a close contact you have to stand less than two metres from a symptomatic person for more than 15 minutes, which is unlikely the case in any of these locations. The locations are published for full transparency and awareness for members of our community, should they develop symptoms,” said Dr Jones.
“The main message is, if you are feeling unwell, recently returned from overseas, or you have a link to a suspect or confirmed case of COVID-19, please call your GP who will arrange testing for you, or call Heathline’s free 24/7 COVID-19 number on 0800 358 5453."
Today’s case information will be updated by the Ministry of Health following its daily stand-up and will be available here: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-cases
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