318 New COVID-19 Cases Confirmed in South Canterbury

318 NEW COVID-19 CASES CONFIRMED IN SOUTH CANTERBURY

Today’s cases

• Timaru District - 268
• Waimate District – 28
• Mackenzie District - 13
• Unknown – 9.

Active cases

• Timaru District - 1,325
• Waimate District – 122
• Mackenzie District – 49
• Unknown – 58
• Total active cases – 1,554.

Total cases recovered in 2022

• 1,714.

Cases in Timaru Hospital

• 3.

The South Canterbury DHB urges everyone in South Canterbury to be vigilant and get tested if they develop any symptoms of COVID-19, or if you are a Household Contact of a positive case. If you are a Close Contact, but do not live with the person who has COVID-19, you do not need to get a test unless you develop symptoms.

If you complete a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) it’s important to report your positive or negative result on mycovidrecord.health.nz or call 0800 222 478 and press option 3. You can now report a RAT result for your child or someone else through your own My Covid Record account.

Please continue to seek the care you need when you need it and attend your hospital outpatient appointments. It is safe to go to our hospital and the general practices as they have the highest level of infection, prevention and control measures in place.

If you have COVID-19 and your symptoms are getting worse, please seek medical care before you get too sick, whether that is from your general practice or the South Canterbury COVID-19 Coordination Centre on 0800 111 880.

Please note, the Ministry of Health’s daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Unknown cases are due to the normal place of residence not being identified yet.

From 11:59pm this Friday 25 March, the COVID-19 Protection Framework will be simpler. It will help us manage life with Omicron, while reducing the impact of future outbreaks.

A number of the tools that were developed to fight COVID-19 were designed to protect an unvaccinated population from earlier variants of the virus.

The focus now is to make life simpler and closer to normal, but retain the things that we know are most effective at reducing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting people.

New and highly simplified traffic light setting:

• At RED, people will be required to wear masks in all the indoor venues they are now and capacity limits increase to 200. Outdoor capacity limits are removed, and face masks are no longer required at outdoor settings
• At ORANGE, the capacity limits go, but face masks are still required in many indoor settings
• At GREEN, when we get there, there are no requirements, but we want people to keep up good health habits and look after those of us that are more vulnerable to COVID-19
• At all levels, the testing and isolation requirements remain as they are now. The isolation period for both positive cases and household contacts will remain at 7 days
• You’ll notice that a lot has gone. My Vaccine Pass was an extremely useful tool while we were getting the country vaccinated, and in our fight against Delta, but with around 95% of the eligible population at least double dosed, we no longer need this. Businesses will still be able to use the system if they would like to, but from 4 April it won’t be required
• There will be no requirement on businesses to ensure customers scan or sign-in anymore and QR codes will no longer need to be displayed. As Omicron is now widespread, we no longer need to contact trace individual cases. This means we can remove the obligation on businesses and the public to maintain records for contact tracing purposes. This system may need to return if another variant of concern arrives in New Zealand
• Also, from 4 April, vaccine mandates disappear for all sectors except health and care workers, prison staff, and border workers. They remain for these people because health and care workers and prison staff come into contact with a lot of people who are at high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 and our border workers because they are the first people that would likely be exposed to any new variant of concern that emerges internationally
• What these changes signal is a shift towards enabling people, businesses, whanau and communities to manage the risk of COVID-19 in a way that suits them, while we all resume our normal day-to-day lives and reinvigorate our businesses. While we are removing requirements, we still want you to think about what you can do to keep yourselves, your workers, your customers, friends and family, safe.

If you are showing COVID-19 symptoms or are a household contact you can go to a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) collection site, or pre-order a RAT online at requestrats.covid19.health.nz or by ringing 0800 222 478 (option 3) from 8am to 8pm to collect, or have someone collect it for you at a collection site.

Timaru Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) collection site and COVID-19 Testing Clinic:

• Aorangi Park, Morgans Road, Timaru (north end car park)
• Monday – Friday, 9am - 4.30pm.
• Saturday – Sunday, 9am – 3pm.

Geraldine Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) collection site:

• Geraldine Rugby Club, George Street
• Sunday - Friday (closed Saturday)
• 8am to 12pm.

Waimate Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) collection site:

• Waimate Rugby Club, Wall Street, Waimate
• Monday – Saturday
• 9am - 11am.

Twizel Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) collection site:

• MacKenzie Pharmacy, 6-7 Market Place, Twizel
• Monday – Friday, 9am - 5pm
• Saturday, 10am - 2pm
• Please note, before going to this collection site, you need to place an order via (requestrats.covid19.health.nz) or by ringing 0800 222 478 (option 3).

Fairlie Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) collection site:

• Fairlie HealthCare Depot, 78 Main Street, Fairlie
• Monday – Friday
• 9am - 5.30pm
• Please note, before going to this collection site, you need to place an order via (requestrats.covid19.health.nz) or by ringing 0800 222 478 (option 3).

With cases escalating in the community, it is extremely important to get vaccinated to reduce your chance of serious illness and hospitalisation.

Click here for a full list of vaccination clinics in South Canterbury, including those taking walk ins. Or you can visit the Healthpoint website.

ENDS

Media contact:
Karen Berry
Communications Manager
South Canterbury District Health Board
P: 03 687 2395 | M: 021 139 7442
kberry@scdhb.health.nz