Daily Media Update - Friday 17 April 2020
New case in Southern
The Ministry of Health has announced one new COVID-19 cases in the Southern district today, taking the region’s total to 214. Confirmed and probable cases are combined for this and future totals, to match Ministry case reporting.
For a breakdown by Territorial Authority please visit the Southern Health website https://www.southernhealth.nz/sdhbCOVID19/cases-updates
147 people in our district are now classified as recovered.
Queenstown pop up testing results
The Medical Officer of Health Southern, Dr Susan Jack is this afternoon waiting on the remaining results from the pop up testing in Queenstown yesterday.
The Southern DHB has received around two-thirds of the results back and all have been negative so far. We expect to receive the remaining results tomorrow.
Dr Jack says, “The results we have received so far are certainly an encouraging sign that there is not widespread presence of the virus in Queenstown, however we await the remaining results, and know that even one positive case would be significant”.
Thanks from Medical Officer of Health
The Medical Officer of Health for Southern, Dr Susan Jack is thanking the community, health professionals and council staff who participated in the pop up testing in Queenstown yesterday.
More than 340 people were swabbed at the temporary drive-through facility set up in the Pak ’n’ Save carpark, by WellSouth, SDHB staff and other health workers, at the request of Dr Jack.
While Southern already had the highest incidence of COVID-19 and the highest level of testing, the Director General this week asked all DHBs to increase testing. The purpose of yesterday’s pop-up testing was to help establish if COVID-19 is present, but undetected, within the community.
“The aim was to get a broadly representative sample of people living in Queenstown including some essential workers. This will help us understand the potential impact of relaxing restrictions.”
Dr Jack said the pop up testing was another positive example of how health professionals and the community are uniting against COVID-19.
“I called WellSouth on Wednesday afternoon asking for help to do the testing, and by the next evening it was all done. I’ve been heartened by the response, including the speed of our health professionals to mobilise and the willingness of members of the public to be tested to help us get a better picture of COVID-19 in the community.
“Thank you all for answering the call and doing your bit to help.”
ENDS.