All the major news events, which will hopefully not be too many. Auckland is now at alert level two, NZ at level one. Get in touch at info@thespinoff.co.nz 

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7.15pm: Airline crew member tests positive for Covid-19

An airline crew member has tested positive for Covid-19 during routine surveillance testing, the Ministry of Health has announced.

The person returned to New Zealand from Japan one week ago, on February 28, and returned a negative test. On routine testing today, however, they returned a positive result and has been moved to Auckland’s quarantine facility. Their three household family members have been tested today and the results are all negative.

The only flights between Japan and Auckland running currently are operated by Air New Zealand.

Fourteen other air crew on the same journey as the latest case are in the process of being contacted, isolated and retested, said the Ministry of Health in a media release.

The initial public health assessment is there is a low risk to the public due to Auckland being at alert level three for the period in which this case was back in New Zealand.

There is currently one location of interest – the Auckland Airport Countdown on March 3 between 12.07pm and 1.22pm. Anyone who was at the store at this time is asked to monitor their health for the next 10 days (until March 17). If they feel unwell or develop symptoms, they should contact Healthline on 0800 358 5454, and get tested and stay at home until a negative test result is received.

The person also attended a health appointment that is currently being assessed, said the ministry. “All those attending the same clinic at the same time are being identified and will be contacted and provided specific health advice.”

The latest case was a frequent user of the Covid Tracer app, said the ministry, “which is aiding the public health staff to identify potential exposure events and assess any risks from their activities”.

Specific advice will be provided to people identified as contacts by public health staff. Results from genome sequencing are expected on Tuesday and will help rule out any local transmission. A further update will be provided tomorrow.

Rules for air crew

As of October last year, all overseas-based air crew transiting through New Zealand must stay in a managed isolation facility for the duration of their layover. New Zealand-based crew returning via a “high-risk route” – currently Los Angeles and San Francisco – must stay in a managed isolation facility for 48 hours.

Other New Zealand-based air crew are exempt from managed isolation as long as they meet certain requirements, such as weekly tests, wearing PPE and distancing from others. While staying overseas, the air crew are allowed to leave their room only for very limited purposes, such as to exercise at their accommodation (but not in a gym or pool), to access medical services or to get food from a place within their accommodation.

1.05pm: No new community cases for seventh day straight

It’s now been a full week since we had a case of Covid-19 in the community.

Today’s release from the Ministry of Health reported no new community cases as Auckland moved down to level two and the rest of the country to level one. “While it’s encouraging to see another day without any community cases, we must all remain vigilant and continue to do our bit,” said the release.

“This includes staying home if you have any symptoms; if symptomatic phoning Healthline for advice on getting a test – wherever you are in the country; and keeping a record of where you have been at all times.

“The Covid Tracer app is an easy way to do this. Please continue to scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard if you haven’t already done so. Continue to wash your hands, and cough or sneeze into your elbow.”

There is one new Covid-19 case detected in managed isolation, an arrival from South Africa via Qatar who tested positive on routine day one testing.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is now 72, with the total number of confirmed cases 2,043.

The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,779,213. On Saturday, 6,733 tests were processed. The total number of tests in the last seven days is 71,831.  The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 10,262 tests processed.

Since January 1, there have now been 37 historical cases, out of a total of 233 cases.

More than 68,000 new users have signed up to the Covid Tracer app in the past 14 days, bringing the total to 2,736,807. Poster scans have reached 209,842,881, users have created 8,247,078 manual diary entries. There have been 1,496,777 scans in the last 24 hours.

10.45am: National calls for inquiry into Valentine’s Day cluster

The National Party is calling for an inquiry into the latest community Covid-19 outbreak that resulted in two level three lockdowns for Auckland.

In a press release sent this morning, National leader Judith Collins said the inquiry should cover the performance of contract tracing; communication of public health messaging; whether the testing regime met expectations; if saliva or antigen testing should be used more fully, and the legality of orders issued around testing and self-isolation.

In the release, Collins criticised the decision to move Auckland out of level three in February after three days, which “has since resulted in a week long lockdown for Auckland”. “These lockdowns are costing the economy half a billion dollars each week.”

The government has defended the decision to not extend the three-day lockdown, as the exposure that resulted in the outbreak spreading was a result of level three breaches during the lockdown, rather than occurring after it ended.

Collins said public health messaging needed to improve, referencing the controversy over advice given to Case L, who went to work at KFC when she should have been in self-isolation. The government said she had been told this; the woman herself said she hadn’t. “This has highlighted the lack of urgency shown by the Ministry of Health to follow up on unanswered texts or calls,” said Collins.

She also criticised the management of the domestic border, with long queues seen at airports last weekend as people tried to get back to Auckland.

10.30am: What about kids? New report calls for Covid policy to centre children’s rights

In news I’m sure will delight Auckland parents who have just spent a week relishing every minute of forced confinement with their little treasures, today is Children’s Day. 

All jokes aside, growing up in the midst of a global pandemic isn’t ideal, and the Children’s Convention Monitoring Group has today released a report assessing agency responses since Covid-19 arrived in Aotearoa a year ago.

Children’s commissioner Andrew Becroft says the report, “Children’s rights in the Covid-19 response“, highlights the need to centre children’s rights in all government planning, especially if we are to be prepared for future shocks and crises.

“Covid-19 should be the reason to do more for children,” said Becroft in a statement. “New Zealand now has an opportunity to apply the lessons learned over the past year, to redesign our systems to tackle the big issues facing children and young people both in times of crisis and not. 

Becroft is calling on the government to make child impact assessments mandatory, “so all policy and legislation is designed around the rights and wellbeing of children”.

“They have the biggest stake in any plans for the future, and their rights and interests should be baked into all policy or planning,” he said.

9.45am: No new community cases overnight; more to be revealed on vaccine programme early next week – Hipkins

Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed there were no new community Covid-19 cases overnight, good news as we move down alert levels.

Hipkins shared the news on TVNZ 1’s Q&A this morning, where he also revealed we’re likely to learn who in the community will be first in line to be vaccinated early next week.

Families of border workers and frontline health workers began receiving the jab this week, but it still isn’t clear who’s up next. There have been calls for the South Auckland community to be prioritised, given the last two outbreaks have been centred there.

Hipkins said negotiations with pharmaceutical companies have slowed down making the decision, as there is evidence the AstraZeneca vaccine is not suitable for over-65s. New Zealand has secured four vaccines but so far only the Pfizer vaccine is here – the third shipment arrived last week. Hipkins said more would be known about what vaccines are arriving when early next week.

8.30am: The day ahead

Mōrena! Much of the country has awoken to alert level one – ie pretty much normality – and Auckland to level two – ie not quite normality but a hell of a lot more normal than level three. Expect socially distanced queues outside cafes as Aucklanders make a return to the age-old Sunday morning ritual of brunch (with distanced tables, table service only and one server per table). Also, church (with a limit of 100 people).

Whatever you get up to today, remember to scan in with the Covid Tracer app, wear a mask on public transport, stay home if you’re sick, wash your hands et cetera et cetera.

Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins will be appearing on TVNZ 1’s Q&A shortly (9am) to share the latest, including whether there were new cases overnight; and any news on the vaccine rollout.

At around 1pm, there will be an emailed media release from the Ministry of Health informing us of anything else we need to know, eg new cases (fingers cross for a seventh day of zero in the community).

Oh, and at 12pm the Black Caps men’s cricket team take on Australia in the fifth T20 at Sky Stadium in Wellington. The Black Caps won the first two but were hammered in the third and fourth matches in the capital during the week, both of which were played to an empty stadium due to alert level two restrictions. Let’s hope a crowd of raucous Wellingtonians can turn things around. That match will be immediately followed by the White Ferns women’s team taking on England. The men’s game is live on Spark Sport, with the women’s game free to air on TVNZ 1.

All the major news events, which will hopefully not be too many. Get in touch at info@thespinoff.co.nz 

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5.30pm: Data shows impact of latest lockdown

Recreation and retail activity in Auckland fell by 49% in the latest level three lockdown, but it’s a markedly less dramatic fall than under the same rules in August, when the corresponding drop was 57%. That’s according to new data from Google, drawn from anonymised mobile phone location records. More people were at their workplaces and there were fewer hours spent at home than under the lockdown in August.

Read the full story here.

2.45pm: A shaky day in the east

Fifteen earthquakes above Magnitude 4 have struck off East Cape since midnight. They follow a 7.2 quake at around 2.30am yesterday, which led to tsunami warnings and evacuations. The worst of the earthquakes today was Magnitude 6.1, at a depth of 33 km, 140 km east of Te Araroa. Felt at 1.16pm, it rated a “moderate” quake by Geonet.

This series of aftershocks is consistent with seismologists’ expectations. GNS has laid out three scenarios for earthquakes in the region after yesterday’s event. Read them here. 

1.00pm: No new community cases; nine in MIQ

There are no new Covid-19 cases detected in testing in the community, according to the Ministry of Health’s daily update.

There are nine new cases in managed isolation. Of those, eight arrived from India, via the UAE, on March 4. Of those, there are two pairs, each sharing a bubble. The ninth arrived from the US via Qatar, also on March 4. All cases were detected in routine testing on day zero.

“Today’s managed isolation case numbers underscore the value of having the day 0/1 testing in place. All people arriving into New Zealand must remain in their rooms until those day 0/1 tests results come back, and in these cases, all nine people are transferred to a quarantine facility following those positive results,” reads the ministry release.

With six previously reported cases now classified as recovered, the total number of active cases in New Zealand is 71. The total number of confirmed cases is 2,042.

Yesterday 9,471 tests were processed, meaning more than 71,000 tests have been processed in the last week. The total number of Covid tests processed by New Zealand laboratories is 1,772,480.

12.30pm: Update expected at 1pm

A reminder: there is no Covid-19 press conference scheduled for today. Instead we’re expecting a media release at around 1pm. We’ll bung that directly into these updates as soon as it arrives.

In the meantime, here’s something to listen to – Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris talk to Noelle McCarthy about their Spinoff collaborations, from the excellent Word Christchurch festival.

11.40am: Pasifika postponed, relocated

The Pasifika Festival, planned to take place on the weekend of March 13 in Auckland, has been postponed to the weekend of April 10. The announcement follows the decision to leave Auckland at level two until at least Friday. The event, which attracts thousands of guests and therefore cannot be held under level two, will now he held at Mt Smart Stadium rather than Western Springs, its home since 1993.

“Pasifika is a much-loved festival and an important celebration of Auckland’s vibrant Pacific cultures,” said Auckland Mayor Phil Goff. “I’m happy that Auckland Unlimited, our Pacific community leaders, organisers and festival stakeholders have been able to work together to confirm a new date. I look forward to attending Pasifika this year and enjoying all the performances, music, art, culture and heritage the festival offers.”

Pasifika has not been held since 2018. Last year’s event was cancelled at the last minute after Covid began to spring up in New Zealand. In 2019 it was cancelled because police resources were strained after the Christchurch mosque attacks.

10.45am: Middlemore staff return to work after false-positive

Some staff members at Middlemore hospital in South Auckland were stood down after a patient returned a “weak positive result for one of two target genes”, 1 News reports. After two further tests returned negative results, the first “has now been categorised as a false positive”, the DHB told the outlet.

Staff have since been “released back to their normal activities”, a DHB spokesperson told 1 News. “Although the nasal swabbing we use for Covid-19 testing has a low rate of false positives they do occur and we take a very precautionary approach when any cases under investigation are in our care.”

10am: Who is Kiri Allan?

The search traffic flowing into the Spinoff over the last 24 hours suggests the minister for emergency management has made quite an impression. Kiritapu Allan, pictured above, is the MP for East Coast (winning comfortably despite some disputes about a poll), and in only her second term in parliament has been promoted to cabinet, where she also holds the conservation and associate arts portfolios. It’s in emergency management that she has come to the attention of the wider public, however, with a series of impressive press appearances following the earthquakes and tsunami warnings of yesterday.

Allan grew up in Paengaroa, Te Karaka and Auckland, and before becoming an MP worked as a lawyer. As a newbie in 2017, Allan wrote a candidate diary for the Spinoff through the election campaign, reflecting on everything from the impact of the Edegcumbe floods to wanting to throw up before her first interview on live TV. Her daughter is said to be a powerful force in the parliamentary infant union.

Here’s an excerpt from her maiden speech, which you can read in full here:

I am one of 10 children, from a mixed family that transcends race, class and geography. My dad, a son of a solo mother who raised four boys in Gore to be resilient, hard-working and kind men. Her ancestors arrived here in 1848 aboard the vessel Blunder, landing in Port Chalmers from Scotland. My father’s father, the son of migrants from Aberdeen, Scotland, that came via Sri Lanka where they were the owners of tea plantations.

My mother’s father, a fisherman and World War II veteran. Her mother, a Pirirakau princess was raised in the centre of our universe, Te Puna.

I have the honour of carrying my grandmother’s name: Kiritapu. My nana spoke only Te Reo Maori until the age of five when she entered into the Native Schools system. On her first day at that school, her name was changed to “Kitty” and she was strapped for speaking Te Reo. Whatever the intention, it was nevertheless the effect, my nana’s cultural identity was whipped out of her at that school, and so too, some might say, was her voice.

Nana, I stand here in this House to honour your name, and to give voice to the voiceless, who for whatever their circumstances, cannot speak for themselves.

Update: Stuff political editor Luke Malpass has just published a terrific interview with Allan here.

9.35am: No new cases overnight

Peeni Henare, associate minister for health, has just told Newshub Nation that no new cases of Covid-19 have come to light overnight. Assuming that doesn’t change in the coming hours, it will be the sixth consecutive day with no positive tests returned in the community. “I am confident that we have managed to contain this cluster,” Henare said.

Asked whether the latest outbreak had exposed holes in the contact tracing approach, and a more rigorous approach might have been taken, Henare accepted that there were “lessons along the way”, but “we’re confident in our health response”.

8.00am: The day ahead

There are a couple of things we’ll be looking out for today to soothe our collective nerves. Or rather, a couple of things we don’t want to see.

First, we don’t want to see any new cases of Covid-19 in the community. At least, we don’t want to see any new cases in people that aren’t linked to the Valentine’s Day cluster. We can live with a case or two that have been isolating and are linked.

We also don’t want to see any press conferences. The plan as we understand it is a 1pm press release today. We’ll have that in full as soon as it lands, here.

And we really do not want to hear that is-it-a-lockdown-or-is-it-a-tsunami hell chord screeching out of our phones like a Kraftwerk migraine.

Ata Mārie!

7.30am: Thank God it’s not Friday any more

“It’s hard not to feel our country is having a run of bad luck,” said the prime minister yesterday afternoon. Here’s a reminder of what she was talking about.

Tsunami evacuations

March 4, 2021, will be remembered as a very eventful day; one which began for much of the country with a 2.27am shake, and for thousands of people in Bay of Plenty and East Cape with a dash for the hills. Just a few hours after they’d returned to their homes, with that tsunami warning from an offshore earthquake over, the alarms were sounding again. A 7.4 magnitude quake near the Kermadec Islands at 6.41am was just the warm-up act for an 8.1 at 8.28am. Amid some early confusion about which warning was which, much of the eastern coast of the North Island was put into evacuation mode. It must have been a stressful time for the people of Northland and the east, but they weren’t about to show it. The marine and beach warnings covered most of the North and some of the South Island.

Shortly after 3pm the worst of the waves were over, and the evacuated headed home. What does all this seismic ballyhoo mean in the days and weeks to come? Geonet has sketched out three scenarios, which you can read here. They’re mostly comforting.

Alert level latest

There was good news in the 1pm press release from the Ministry of Health yesterday: zero new cases. None in managed isolation and, much more importantly, for the fifth straight day, none in the community.

It made the alert level decision, announced at 4pm after a cabinet meeting, inevitable: Auckland would move out of the alert level three lockdown. The only question was how soon, and to what. The answer: Auckland goes to alert level two at 6am Sunday, while the rest of the country goes to alert level one. If that feels familiar, it is: this was the scenario on February 18. The fact of that deja vu may have informed cabinet’s decision to keep Auckland in level two for longer than last time. The prime minister indicated that cabinet would review the settings next week with a view to putting the region back into level one “before the weekend” – a nod to events organisers and the hospitality sector that a semblance of normality is not too far away.

If you’ve emerged from a rock or just want to take the ride again, relive yesterday by clicking here, zipping to the end and scrolling upwards.