News and Notices

NMH COVID-19 Update: 20 April 2020

Posted 4 years ago

This update provides information about confirmed cases in the Nelson Marlborough region, community-based assessment centre (CBAC) data and any new information for our communities.

Please go to the main COVID-19 website for information about the CBACs, contact tracing, hospital planning and more: https://www.nmdhb.govt.nz/covid-19

 

1. Total confirmed cases in the Nelson Marlborough region

There have been no new cases announced for the Nelson Marlborough region since 9 April. The number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 is now 43.

The total number of confirmed, probable cases are:

LOCATION

CONFIRMED CASES

PROBABLE CASES

Nelson

21

6

Marlborough

12

9

TOTALS

33

15
  • All cases are travel-related and there is no evidence of a community outbreak in the region
  • All cases are in isolation at home or in their place of usual residence.
  • There are no cases in hospital.

Please refer to the Ministry of Health’s website for further detail: Case confirmation dates, gender and age group and travel details: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases/covid-19-current-cases-details

2. Recovery rates

As at 20 April 2020, the total number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the Nelson Marlborough region is 43.

The recovery rate is a subset of the total number of confirmed cases.

The Ministry of Health defines a recovered case as: At least 10 days have passed since they first had symptoms of COVID-19, and they have had no symptoms for at least 48 hours. Like most countries, we don't usually test again to make sure, because the test result shows whether or not they have remnants of the virus, not whether or not they can infect other people.

3. Community-based assessment centre (CBAC) data

The total number of people assessed and tested on 17, 18, and 19 April 2020:

DATE

LOCATION

NUMBER OF PEOPLE ASSESSED

NUMBER OF PEOPLE TESTED (SWABS TAKEN)

17-19 April

 

Nelson

174

161

Blenheim

54

 49

Motueka

36

34
Total  

264

244

Running total CBAC data, by location:

 

NELSON

BLENHEIM

MOTUEKA

24 MARCH to 19 APRIL

Assessed: 1128

Assessed: 554

Assessed: 288

Tested: 699

Tested: 304

Tested: 185

Please note that the rate of testing has increased substantially in the past weeks, in line with the revised Ministry of Health case definition.

3. Release of Golden Bay case data

On 18 April, NMH Clinical Director of Public Health, Dr Stephen Bridgman confirmed that nine of the 48 confirmed and probable cases in the Nelson Marlborough region have been based in Golden Bay. Most of the nine cases had now recovered and been discharged from the public health service.

All cases in Golden Bay were either people who had been overseas or close contacts of people who had returned from overseas.

Dr Bridgman would like Golden Bay residents to know that all local cases cooperated with the strict isolation rules, to ensure they didn’t put their communities at risk. He thanks them for their community-mindedness.

The last case reported to an NMH Medical Officer of Health with a positive COVID-19 test had their swab taken on 3 April.

“There have been hundreds of local negative tests since the last positive case, which suggests there is no current local transmission of COVID-19,” Dr Bridgman says.

“There is, however, no room for complacency. It is very important all local people follow the Government Alert Level Guidelines to ensure the best chance of our region staying COVID-19 free and out of lockdown.”

The main risk of COVID-19 transmission to people in the Nelson Marlborough region relates to people who have returned from other areas of NZ where cases of COVID-19 continue to rise.

4. A note about regional case data

The Ministry of Health (MoH) advises DHBs to release case info only at territorial authority (ie, division by regional or district council) level.

This is primarily to protect the privacy of individuals. The MoH provides the following information for each case: Gender, age range and any relevant travel details. If a DHB were add to this data, by providing a specific location for that case, the person’s identity could be assumed – either correctly or incorrectly. This could lead to a privacy breach.

Nelson Marlborough Health (NMH) decided to confirm Golden Bay data in direct response to community demand for this information. By doing so, NMH is one of very few DHBs to break case data down beyond territorial authority level.

Here is the MoH guidance to DHBs:

Ministry of Health guidance to DHBs on releasing information of COVID-19 cases:
Information about testing and cases (both confirmed and probable) can be released at either the DHB or TA level as per Ministry of Health guidelines. It should be noted that the release of TA level information should be exercised with discretion where there is a risk of compromising patient confidentiality, especially in light of information being released on a national level. The Ministry continues to see some inappropriate behaviour against people who are being tested or have/had COVID-19 by some parts of the community. We continue to need to act to respect patient confidentiality.

5. For further information

Please go to the NMH website COVID-19 page for information about:

  • The definition of a ‘probable’ case
  • Contact tracing
  • Community-based assessment centre (CBAC) locations
  • The difference between screening, assessment and testing at a CBAC
  • How to raise concerns about non-compliance with isolation or physical distancing rules
  • Hospital visitation rules
  • Changes to planned care (elective) procedures
  • Where to find the best COVID-19 information and advice
  • Resources to download and share
  • Other frequently-asked questions