May 05, 2020
Dr Rawiri Taonui | COVID Māori Update 5 May 2020 | Two ZERO Days
COVID Māori Update 5 May 2020 | Two ZERO Days
Dr Rawiri Taonui
New Zealand Situation
New and Total Cases
There are zero new cases again today. Total cases stay at 1487. There are no new deaths. Total deaths stay at 20. New cases are single-digit or ZERO for 17 consecutive days. The 10-day trend is: 9-5-3-2-3-3-6-2-0-0. We need several more days of ZERO positive tests before we can confidently move down from Level 3. Have we eliminated COVID-19? No. We need to stay vigilant and protective. There will be more new cases. Testing in the regions is not yet thorough enough to make that call. Down track, further outbreaks are likely.
Recovered and Active Cases
1302 or 87.6 of all cases have recovered. Every recovery is one less risk. There is a new low for active cases of 165 cases, the lowest number of active cases since 24 March. We are tracking to less than 50 active cases in 7 days. On 11 May, the government will decide whether we move to Level 1 or 2. The number of active cases must be as low as possible before we open the country further. The overseas ban should continue.
Testing
There were 2,473 tests yesterday. There are 152,696 in total. This is 30,540 tests per million. We are testing above many other countries of our size. The reduction from over 5,000 on previous days is a concern. There are still several areas of under-testing for Māori and Pasifika.
Māori
There are ZERO new Māori cases. This is the 13th time Māori have had ZERO new cases since 12 April. The 10-day trend runs: 1-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0. The total stays at 126. Credit to the leaders and communities who have been to the forefront of protecting our communities. Mana to the checkpoints.
With typical inaccurate ethnic data, the Ministry of Health says Māori are 8% of all cases. Māori are 8.5% of all cases. The single decimal place is important for tracking the current trend.
The combination of much of the Māori population living outside of large urban centres, increased testing of Māori in Te Tai Tokerau, the Waikato, Taranaki and Te Tai Rāwhiti and the existence of checkpoints continues to affording significant protection to regional and rural Māori communities.
There is a late surge testing Māori in the regions. We can be confident this is moving well in Northland, Waikato, Taranaki and the East Coast. There are promising signs in Tauranga, the Rotorua Lakes District and Hawkes Bay.
Pacific Peoples
There are ZERO new Pacific cases today. The total is 79. The 10-day trend runs: 1-3-1-0-1-1-0-1-2-0. With typical inaccuracy on ethnic data, the Ministry of Health says Pacific are 5.0% of all cases. Pacific cases are 5.3%.
There has been thorough testing of Pacific in Auckland. There is concern in areas like Whanganui, MidCentral, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua-Taipō Lakes.
Noho haumaru stay safe and self-sovereign, Dr Rawiri Taonui.
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