April 09, 2020
Positive signs at lockdown halfway point
The number of people recovering from COVID-19 was is now ahead of new cases.
In today’s briefing, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield revealed 35 people had recovered since yesterday and there were just 29 new cases, 23 of them confirmed.
The combined total of cases is now 1239.
Dr Bloomfield says 14 people are in hospital, four in ICU.
There remains a strong link with overseas travel, directly in 41 per cent of cases and through contact with an existing case in another 44 per cent.
He says most of the new cases were connected to a known cluster, showing the lockdown has been effective in ring-fencing cases.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says two weeks into the lockdown it is not time to lift the controls.
She says the decline in cases fits the most optimistic models, but all that work could be quickly undone.
Copyright © 2020, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com