Delta variant

This were the results from the last two updates on Thursday, 17th and Friday, 18th February 2022. On the 17th, 13 new Omicron cases were reported from the samples that were sent down to Australia, raising the total number of this new variant to 14 so far.

These 13 new cases of Omicron were among 333 new cases of COVID-19 reported on this day.

Minister Wong said that we are our own worst enemy and have become complacent listening to negative feedback on social media, talking about how evil the vaccine was and how this disease will not kill us when it got here.

“Like just the other day I saw on Facebook, a very senior doctor said that, ‘how can we take the vaccination if we don’t understand the vaccine?”

He added that it was negative to say such things and that when you are a doctor putting out vaccines to people, any kind of vaccine, is to help people.

This was revealed by the Deputy Controller of National COVID-19 Pandemic, Dr. Esorom Daoni when he hosting a virtual media conference on this week.

He said the provinces can be categorized either as high risk or a low risk basing on the rate of infection and number of deaths. 

Out of 67 cases, 98 percent of the cases are locally acquired transmission. 

To date the high risk provinces are West Sepik, Western and Eastern Highlands provinces with others categorized as medium risk, however Dr. Daoni said those in medium risk should also be upgraded to high risk status.

As of August 10, the Delta variant has been reported in 142 countries and is expected to continue spreading. The Delta variant is about twice as contagious as previous variants.
However, the same precautions, such as avoiding crowded spaces, keeping your distance from others and mask wearing, still work against the Delta variant.

The World Health Organization (WHO), stated it is a variant because of its high transmissibility.

COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said the variant "changes the game considerably" and makes existing protections "look less adequate".

It comes as the country announced a further 21 confirmed cases in the latest outbreak of the virus.

New Zealand had quashed earlier COVID outbreaks with rapid, strict lockdowns.

The country was praised for its efforts, which effectively stopped the spread of the virus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly referred to New Zealand as "our team of five million".

Jacinda Ardern said that genome sequencing has detected the Delta strain, and that it originated in NSW.

"We are dealing with the Delta variant ... our case has originated in Australia."

"Now the job is to work out how and when it got here,” Ms Ardern said.

The NZ Government will examine whether the positive case leaked from one of the country's managed isolation facilities

New Zealand has detected an additional two COVID cases, bringing the total in the current outbreak to seven.

Dr Daoni reported that the latest cases are three males from Western Province. He said the NCC will be sending a team to Western Province, as they did with Madang, to help with contact tracing and provide technical advice and guidance on how to respond to the cases on ground. 

The Deputy Controller also said testing in Papua New Guinea has reduced since March, and therefore it is difficult to know how widespread the transmission of Delta Variant is. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told RNZ's Morning Report one of the new cases is a nurse at Auckland Hospital.

"The health workforce are very well versed and mapping these issues and have done in the past.

We have had COVID-positive cases in our health workforce before. What's different on this occasion is that we have this individual who is fully vaccinated."

Ardern said the four new cases were the workmate of the 58-year-old Devonport man and the workmate's close or household contacts.

One of those people travelling from Moscow had the Delta variant of COVID-19. After they left the plane, staff from the Nanjing Lukou airport swooped in to pick up their rubbish.

According to Chinese officials, when those cleaners exited the aircraft they brought the virus along with them to the outside world - sparking what has now become China's widest outbreak since Wuhan.

In the last few weeks, at the height of the summer travel season, Delta has been detected in at least 16 Chinese provinces and municipalities. Most cases are linked to Nanjing.