There are now over a million total cases of COVID-19 worldwide. This includes, those who currently have the virus, those that have recovered and those that have passed away.
Today Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Director-General for the Ministry of Health confirmed the following:
- 49 new confirmed cases
- 20 new probable cases
- 71 new total
- 868 cases nationwide
The Ministry of Health confirmed that of these 868 cases, 62 are Māori and 23 are Pasifika.
There have been no further fatalities and there are also 103 people who have recovered. GPs and Pharmacies will receive increased funding of $15 million for each sector.
Dr Bloomfield also share some information posted by the WHO. Based on the data received, the WHO confirmed the three main ways that the virus is being transmitted. One, respiratory droplets from a person with the virus; two, touching someone with the virus; three, touching objects that were contaminated by a COVID-19 patient.
People with the virus are more infectious in the early stages (the first 2-3 days), Dr Bloomfield says, and he adds that symptoms normally show after 5-6 days.
Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā, the Māori Pandemic Group sent a letter to Dr Bloomfield raising concerns about the need for detailed records about Māori tests and cases of COVID-19. His response, in part, was:
"We know from previous pandemics and situations like this that Māori and also other populations like Pacific tend to be at higher risk of poor outcomes
"So we want to have good ethnicity data and we will be implementing the suggestions that they have made."
Here is the entire press conference.