Go harder, experts tell Govt

The Government is being urged to do more to fight Covid-19 as a change in alert levels nears with more than 500 cases in the community.

A further 83 new cases were reported yesterday, the worst day of the Delta outbreak and one of the worst yet in the pandemic.

Ministry of Health analysis revealed almost a third of the latest group were infected outside their homes, mostly at essential workplaces. Regions south of Auckland will drop to alert level 3 at 11.59pm tomorrow.

Professor Shaun Hendy, a Covid modelling expert at Auckland University, said New Zealand needed to up its game to beat the virus. The Government should also be ‘‘thinking now’’ about how to accelerate the vaccine roll-out, particularly for Auckland, Hendy said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday the Government was looking at how to manage the increased demand for Pfizer vaccinations until more stock arrives. Between 70,000 and 90,000 doses have been administered daily in recent days.

‘‘It is not a matter of running out, it is a matter of whether or not we are in a position of where we need to have a little less demand,’’ Ardern said when asked when supplies would run out.

National Party MP and Covid19 spokesperson Chris Bishop said the Government’s struggle to meet vaccine demand showed ‘‘incompetence on a grand scale’’.

‘‘New Zealand’s vaccine rollout has been the slowest in the developed world ... This lockdown happened because our vaccination rate was way too low.

‘‘Now the Government looks like they want to slow down the very roll-out that will help avoid more lockdowns in the future,’’ Bishop said.

ACT leader David Seymour called on the Government to ‘‘call in some favours’’ to boost vaccines supplies after letting other countries get in first, or to buy in brands other than Pfizer.

‘‘Now New Zealand is in crisis,

struggling to contain an outbreak, it is time to ask, are our friends around the world prepared to ship their reserves now in return for future New Zealand deliveries?’’ Seymour asked.

Ardern also said people had been infected at four known workplaces operating under level 4 and the Government needed to consider whether public health protocols were fit for purpose.

New Zealand has 511 community cases. All are in the Auckland and Wellington areas, with none in the South Island. Thirtyfour Covid patients were in hospital at the weekend, including two in intensive care.

Hendy said the Government should introduce rapid Covid selftesting, such as saliva tests, quickly. This would allow essential workers to be tested daily.

‘‘It has been brought in overseas. It is not as unpleasant, less invasive and does not have to go to a lab. I don’t think we have done enough investigation on that.’’

Hendy said the more infectious nature of the Delta variant meant workplace procedures around ventilation, distancing and mask wearing should be checked and tightened.

‘‘Maybe we should be shutting down some of these businesses.

‘‘We need to reset our expectations with Delta. We know more about it now,’’ he said.

‘‘[There was] concern last year about surface transmission and handwashing. It seems now it is the aerosol spread that is dominant, so it is even more important to reduce the risk of that.’’

Alert level 3 allows nonessential businesses to open if they can do so safely with staff distancing and non-contact trading.

Epidemiologist Arindam Basu, of the University of Canterbury, agreed saliva testing was needed and questioned what the Government was waiting for.

International evidence was ‘‘very clear’’ that saliva testing was almost as accurate as swab testing and it was also more acceptable to the public, he said.

Basu said that Delta meant safety protocols must be stricter.