kiyo Dakota Couture welcome to the update today today we have two new confirmed cases of covert 19 to report and one new probable case two of today's cases and those are both the confirmed cases can be traced to a Noland source one is linked to the Marist cluster in Auckland and the other linked to the Gladys Murray rest home in Hawke's Bay the the probable case which is from South Canterbury is currently under investigation so the new national total of cases both confirmed and probable is 1472 there are no additional deaths to report and New Zealand's total number of confirmed cases is 1124 this is the number we report to the World Health Organization and in many instances this is the number that many countries report as their overall total yesterday there were 2146 covert 19 tests processed around the country bringing the combined total to date to 126 thousand in 66 tests again the slower number of tests reflects the pattern we have seen for example over Easter when there are public holidays of our cases 1214 are now reported as recovered that is they have been symptom free for at least 48 hours and as it is at least 10 days since the onset of their symptoms that's an increase of 34 on yesterday and now 82 percent of our cases are classified as recovered today there are 9 people in hospital around the country and that includes one person in ICU in Middlemore Hospital and there are still currently 16 significant clusters around the country that is clusters of at least 10 or more people in terms of the case is still under investigation since the first of April we have just those two cases I mentioned one yesterday this is the case in Tauranga for which there is a possible link that is still being investigated and the other one is the one just announced from South Canterbury today it's a probable case just a word on elimination I want to restate the comments I made yesterday about elimination and what which may have caused some confusion about what this means in a looot level 3 first of all a reminder that we still will see cases of covert 19-under an elimination goal there does mean that just a means that it is not completely eradicated and your food professor Sir David skeg talked about the difference between elimination and eradication several weeks ago at the first meeting of the epidemic response committee to date we have been of course considering elimination under a looot level 4 and as I said yesterday we have achieved what we set out to achieve under alert level 3 that means we know we have a small number of cases and we know where those cases are coming from we have the ability to undertake ongoing and extensive testing and we can contact trace a significant number of cases each day however as you will have heard today we still do have cases ongoing of covert 19 and we have seen from overseas experience how quickly those numbers can rise again if we take our foot off the pedal we have made good progress to arrive at level 3 but we are by no means in the clear elimination is not a point in time it is a sustained effort to keep it out and stamp it out over many months it is crucial that all New Zealanders remain vigilant and follow the guidelines for level 3 including physical distancing and yes like many people returning to work or back at work today I have enjoyed a takeaway coffee however it is important not to congregate outside the cafes or other places or in the car packs of takeaway places like McDonald's when you see old friends please do maintain the physical distancing that will be imperative an dilute level 3 we do not want to see the sorts of rebound that we have seen in other countries so physical distancing imperative keep to your bubble practice good hand hygiene and if you are unwell most importantly stay away from work and from others finally as I outlined yesterday as director-general I have issued a new order under the Health Act which lays out the provisions for alert level 3 this came into effect at 11:59 last night when we moved in to alert level 3 the information in the order is comprehensive and it outlines the functions around isolation or quarantine requirements the permissions for essential personnel movement personal movement or recreation infection control measures that are required of all premises the ability to close non-compliant premises and also prohibitions on gatherings the notice is available on the Ministry of Health website under latest updates and also is linked to from the Ministry of Health's dedicated koba 19 page thank you I'm happy to take questions we've achieved our goal of elimination is under aleut level 4 so we have achieved what we set out to achieve under level 4 as part of our overall goal of elimination that as I said it maintained it remains our goal in a looot level 3 and it certainly will an alert level 2 but it is not something that you can just say done and dusted we've got it we are under elimination it's an on we have eliminated it's an ongoing effort so again I think we're in a situation of covert 19 that we haven't experienced before and I just want to refer back to Professor Sir David Skaggs definition which i think is helpful and it is our goal a small number of cases a knowledge of where those are coming from and an ability to and a posture to identify cases early stamp them out and of course to maintain strict border restrictions so we're not importing new cases that's that's what underpins the elimination goal now I think Aleut libel elimination will continue to be our goal and underpin our approach in in a sense it's a single word to describe that ongoing keep it out stamp it out phase different from what was in the pandemic influenza plan which talked about moving into a manager phase we clearly decided we wouldn't do that and we have seen what has happened in other countries and jurisdictions where they have they have either deliberately by choice or have had that choice taken away where they have moved into a manager phase we decided we wouldn't do that that we would go for an elimination goal underpinned by sustained keep it out stamp it out well I think the point that the the development that every country is looking to is the development of a vaccine end or an effective treatment or treatments for covert nineteen then we could look at what the the goal might be once we had effective treatments end or a vaccine but in the meantime we the the goal of elimination will be what will see us through is New Zealand to that point again and I think that that description applies very aptly to what we have been doing under lockdown but we will continue to want to remain at a point where we have a low number of case and we were able to identify early through testing ended in isolation contact tracing and and isolation of any contacts that will be what will help us achieve on going you know sustained elimination really through these next few phases yes well then I can just clarify we haven't eliminated it and we haven't eradicated it so elimination is a say is not a point in time it's not we've got to the end of Aleut level four we've eliminated it our elimination goal continues and to elute level three and as I've said quite clearly over the last couple of weeks to maintain that that we need to be even more vigilant because we don't have the full protections that'll lock down brings with it so and this was one of the key in pieces of information behind the decision to move out of a looot level four was yes we have achieved what we want to set out to achieve under alert level four a low number of cases an in-depth knowledge of where they're coming from control of any clusters or outbreaks very good testing capacity and widespread testing underway and also their ability to contact we well we are well on the way and again it's not just the Ministry of Health because the the fundamental work force that does the contact tracing is out in our public health units and if you recall who first recommendation about capacity and capability and public health units when we started to get cases in New Zealand we canvassed our public health units and their capacity at that time was around fifty cases that they felt between them they could contact trace that's now up to a 185 with the investment that's happened and with the further investment we're increasing that up to 300 so there's that's the fundamental capacity we will need and then we've got of course our national contact close contact service that supplements that worth the ability to contact up to another 10, 000 phone calls each day in terms of those indicators I think the critical one is the one around the timeliness of of contacting people who are identified as close contacts and one of the challenges here has been collating data which has been manually collected locally by public health units we have just got good what I think is a good picture of that with data from the public health units for the period from the 13th to the 17th of April and that showed that they were contacting and tracing 80% of close contacts within 48 hours actually and the the benchmark there is within 72 hours getting 80% now of course what we want to be able to do is to continue that and even if there is an increase in cases to maintain that achieving 80% within the two days well it's again the the number of cases and of course the knowledge that we're there coming from the other thing will be to maintain early testing of people who are symptomatic and this again is a really important point for people who do have any respiratory symptoms to seek advice early and those include more severe symptoms like fever and cough but also you know sneezing and sore throat in this particular symptom that's now become quite well-documented of a loss of smell or taste which not only seems to be a symptom that people have when they might be developing the illness but also can continue for some time so if people have those symptoms early testing is critical and then supplementing that with our ongoing wider testing in as part of our surveillance including of critical work forces like essential workers and health care settings and in non health care settings yes it's in their case definition now no it's not happening around the country and it surprises me that someone's had to wait 12 days so I'm very happy to look into that and just check what I can say is that every positive test the person is contacted immediately by the Public Health Unit and it may be take longer for people to be to receive confirmation that their test was negative but also of course our positive tests are announced each day here as part of us stand up but it shouldn't be taking 12 days it shouldn't be taking more than a few days for anyone who gets a test to get that result back so well what I was seeing was fine but I have had reported to me that in hence the message you know there will be a temptation you see your friends you haven't seen them for a few weeks with your congregation for a coffee or takeaways to just want to to you know to catch up and it's really that the physical distancing thing remains very important I just want to reiterate their message to people we've got used to doing it during elute level-4 and it's imperative to maintain it through a level-3 look I think the last changed the case definition was officially was the 16th of April and I'm I'm pretty sure it's Ahmet so I'm happy to confirm that that we've certainly added as a very distinctive symptom and it's one that all the CVX are now we you mentioned last week you talked about making up testing and Ruby really we see others with a particular focus on Molly and now you pleased with the testing rates yes we've seen ongoing high testing rates amongst Marty and Pacifica which is good and the feedback I've had is that the testings gone well out in the tide of Te Tai Tokerau and Taranaki and we will be continuing that as appropriate we haven't seen any positive results or tests come through from that testing which is I think reassuring both for those communities okay so there's quite a bit in that question so I don't think the information is misleading what we have moved to over the last few days is rather than broadly talking about community transmission is just to be more specific about the origin of cases and in some cases they will be it will be from community transmission but related to a known case or cluster even if we don't know where that case or cluster came from originally in other cases in a small number we are not able to make that link most of those aside from to pre 1st of April so four weeks ago now and so they will be the ones that are contributing to that overall percentage that our community transmission what we're critically interested in now has been able to trace where our recent and emergent cases come from and being able to link those to existing cases large blood clots and strokes I haven't received any advice but what I can say is we're keeping a really close eye on any emerging reports around clinical presentations that have been this is one there has been in the last week the these reports around you know vascular and and in blood changes there's also an emerging report from the UK just today around the the possibility of a there's only a small number about a small number of children with Kawasaki disease and some of these had been covered 19 positive others hadn't again a small number so these are the sorts of things we are looking at on a daily basis just to see do any is there something we need to advise our clinicians about to look at look for so what it what does seem to be clear is that this infection that even though it's a respiratory infection does affect other organ systems and as we learn more about it that will inform both how we manage people and then of course also if there are all identified groups that might be at high risk that we need to act on quite it's not just confined to those groups and younger we've seen in New Zealand out our biggest groups in terms of age groups that have been affected largely reflecting people coming back from overseas in the nature of some of our clusters the biggest groups have been sort of 20 to 40 year olds they don't they're not as susceptible to the poor outcomes but that doesn't mean that they they don't get those and we've seen overseas where you have high numbers of cases you do see some of these people get very unwell in in some of them died in an and even in the UK and that report around Kawasaki disease I was reading today they have had a small number of deaths and under 20 year olds related to K over 19 it is not an innocuous infection in any age group yes so I was really pleased to see the Public Health Unit yesterday has offered testing to all all those people at that holiday park I don't have the results of those yet we certainly haven't seen any positive tests come through in their reports today I'm assuming that most of those will be done today in process today and we'll be able to report back on it I don't know what holiday park it was actually well I think it does provide a lesson that and and I know that most stage B's do have a rotation policy and we do that for all our pandemic supplies including their supplies we have of Tamiflu which are rotated out and we have also pandemic supplies of things like paracetamol that rotated out to maintain the levels I think there is a lesson for the what I can say as we've got we have got 27 sorry 29 million masks in the country both in 95 and the standard masks in the country so disappointed that those ones had to be written off but we do have both good stocks and good supply chain of masks well I think I don't want to be preaching on this I was pretty keen to get a takeaway coffee and I think people are enjoying the opportunity so I'm not going to pass any judgment on their observation I will make those and I think others have made this there's been a lot of people out being physically active during alert level 4 and walking cycling and I think we will all be feeling all the better for that and I'd encourage everybody to to actually an alert level 3 and even as we move down a little to maintain it regular physical activity we know it's beneficial for health even a few whatever age you are and even if you have pre-existing conditions physical activity is of great benefit so I just didn't be encouraging people to maintain that well theoretically of someone's worth in your bubble you are allowed to hug them and it may be one of the benefits of extending your bubble but of course you do want to be be thoughtful about that and of course if you've got any symptoms of a cold not only don't hug them but don't see them but that's something we all want to look at all cause mortality during the period because we also know some people have delayed seeking care and we want to make sure that they weren't excess deaths related to delays and seeking care if you look at those countries where they and I think the Netherlands is an example I think the u.
s.
may be another one we're actually their mortality rates have been quite a lot higher even than than the additional covert 19 deaths I think this reflects that the attesting was not identifying all the cases out there and there were many community-based deaths as a result of Cova 19 what we've of course been in the position in New Zealand we're confident we've been able to identify most you know the vast majority of our cases and so our death rate is on a par with the countries like Australia and others that have got high testing rates so somewhere between one and two percent whereas what you'll see and say the u.
s.
the death rate is is much higher even approaching about 10% of total cases you'll feed us through lutely wolf or repeatedly encouraging people to seek care in a timely way and and avoid especially if it's something like chest pain or symptoms that really do require them to get urgent care that they should not delay and that continues until level three you know people should seek the care they need whether it's acute or for more long-standing chronic conditions and we we will be looking back all cause mortality just to see whether I know what the impact was of covert 19 including whether there were any increased deaths from infectious causes however I could also say that we've been quite inclusive in terms of our deaths that we have classified as covert 19 and including a number of probable cases even where the testing was negative that we felt it was likely to be a case it's one of the things we're considering further down the track as part of surveillance it will depend on there being a reliable antibody test I think there's still there are still some questions around the reliability and usefulness of antibody testing particularly in a situation like Museum and we've had relatively you know such a low number of cases of more value and I think you'll see the states I think New York's done a an antibody test of a sample of New Yorkers and found they thought around 10 percent of the population has probably been infected it's a more value there whereas here we've got such small numbers and if the test is not that reliable it's unlikely to provide any useful information until we get I think really much more reliable antibody tests Jackson's analysis that you know there might be cases I think we've always understood that there would be other cases out there that we might not detect I'm not sure if it's an equivalent number to the ones we have found but the key point in the key benefit of the lockdown has being that even if those cases were out there they've clearly not transmitted on to others because people have been staying within their bubbles or the majority of people have but this will be one of the things we'll be really want to be very careful about as we go into a level 3 and further on to elute level 2 and hence maintaining that wide testing case finding and testing of certain populations to identify whether there is any she was saying she feels that would be Ternes well I can understand that perspective and I think for all New Zealand as we look and we feel I think we should feel proud of the efforts we've made to get down to the small number of cases however to repeat a comment I've made here before it's quite clear this is a tricky virus and as we learn more about pre symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission that it makes it all the more important we maintain the approach we are maintaining and I'd also point to countries in particular ones like Singapore that also had very small numbers of cases and then saw a big increase and now finds itself in a very different situation we don't want to be in that situation and we want to make sure that we get the full benefits of the sacrifices we have all made under the lockdown alert level 4 so there would be most response here yesterday with achieved our goal of elimination today we have an elimination have we eliminated the virus this let's be clear and I'll just repeat the comment elimination is not a point in time I yesterday I was referring to alert level 4 we have it we had achieved what we set out to achieve in terms of our overall goal of elimination under alert level 4 this is going to be a prolonged effort it's going to be a sustained effort and we will all need to continue that effort in alert level 3 and on to alert level 2 thanks from it correctly international headlines well I think we've been clear here about about what we mean by elimination and it's not eradication we haven't eradicated the virus but we have it we are in we have achieved what we wanted to achieve in our ongoing goal well I hope my explanation today has helped to clarify that if there was mud yesterday the water is clearer today and I hope you all have a good understanding of there ended up in New Zealanders do co2 co2 thanks very much Kerra Kaito Kaito ah good afternoon welcome everyone today one of alert level 3 I want to begin by stressing that a little level 3 we are not out of the woods as I have said before it is a recovery room of sorts to assess if the incredible work that New Zealanders have done at level 4 to break the virus's chain of transmission and prevent further community outbreak has worked as Susy always said today there may still be some smoldering ashes out there and they have the potential to become a wildfire again if we give them the chance it can take from two to ten days for people to have been exposed to covered 19 to come down with symptoms that wouldn't means we wouldn't smell the smoke for a few weeks and that could put us back where we started before the lockdown in quote so with more people going back to work today we need to be even more vigilant at level three to prevent any inadvertent spreading of the virus we must continue to stay home we're possible including for work and education please stay regional and limit non-essential travel and even though you can expand your bubble keep it as small as possible and exclusive and finally if you're sick stay home and contact your GP or health line and get tested it may feel like a minor symptom to you but it could be a significant issue for all of us what leave all three dads represent however is the move towards getting our economy moving again to getting more New Zealanders back to work and to opening more of our businesses businesses restarting at level three we'll see around 400, 000 more New Zealanders back at work taking the total to around 1 million Kiwis working at level 3 around 75% of the economy is operating with key sectors like building and construction forestry Menifee during in contactless retail starting back up importantly major infrastructure projects start up again today over a thousand road and rail construction workers are back working on major projects like transmission gully in the CRL in Auckland however we also know that the lockdown has displaced many workers and there is real need for our job for jobs in our community the government we will do all we can to ensure we fight the economic impacts of the virus in the same way we did the health threat with unity with fast support by looking after one another I'm joined here today by Minister for Social Development come our super Loney who have more to say on further measures we have put in place to support workers and businesses including an online job platform to keep workers and companies connected extra employment centers and agreement with industry on providing record micro-credentials for people needing to retain I'll hand over to municipal Oni thank you and good afternoon everyone over the last few weeks we have paid out ten point four six billion dollars worth of wage subsidies to keep 1 million six hundred and ninety four thousand two hundred and eighty one New Zealanders and work and connected to their employers it's been a huge task to implement but also a satisfying one the feedback from employers and employees has been overwhelmingly positive but we still have work to do as a government we need to continue to be responsive to the evolving situation in response to the impacts of covert 19 we know that a big part of keeping people connected as about keeping New Zealand working even before lockdown our government had developed and launched our employment strategy in August of last year and I acknowledge our Minister for employment Willie Jackson for his leadership on that important work and part of our work wealthier overhaul was seeing MSD ramping up employment related focus last year we boosted amis DS work focused case managers by 263 and invested significantly in programs that support both employment and upskilling and training like manner in Maui before New Zealanders went into alert level for the government worked quickly to stand up rapid response teams from MSD across the country to work in regions immediately affected regions like Tide Alpha Team these teams have been helping to connect people out of work up with employers and some of our most hard-hit sectors under alertly will for MST continue to place people into work over the phone including supporting the redeployment of people to essential services this work has made a difference for many New Zealanders and we're still poised to respond an earnest as a result of the impacts of covert 19 unemployment will rise before it improves we need to continue to act quickly to keep New Zealand working that's why we're announcing today a suite of kete New Zealand working Employment Service initiatives to support those who may be out of work or at risk of losing their job these will be delivered through MST so that they can though that we can effectively engage with more New Zealanders and this unprecedented time the coop New Zealand working online job platform is now live at connects jobseekers any job seeker directly to the employer making it quicker and easier for people to find work it also provides training courses for those looking to upskill you can access it via the work and income site we will also have 35 new employment centres across the country through these employment centres MSD staff will work with employers and jobseekers under liberal under level 3 over the phone and online to match up employment opportunities this will expand to face-to-face engagements with clients and employers and providers under level 2 we are implementing other services which will fast-track those people that need to re-engage quickly with the job market and a specific service for those directly impacted by covert 19 who are not on main benefit these initiatives are key to supporting New Zealanders during a time when when rising unemployment due to covert 19 is a global phenomenon we're already seeing dramatic increases and unemployment in countries around the world like Australia and the UK and New Zealand has not escaped this reality finally I'd like to say we administered the wage subsidy for 1.
6 million workers successfully over four weeks of lockdown by working hard and being adaptable we will deliver our employment efforts for the same dedication and resilience to keep New Zealand working Thank You Minister we're happy to take questions you'll remember of course the director-general pointed to his view that we have reached a gold standard but I continue to place the caveat on that that when it comes to contact tracing we've managed to do that in an environment with a low number of cases and while sweeping and lock down the key for us will be as we ease those restrictions maintaining that level but also for that I call upon all New Zealanders to help us if you have symptoms get a test because the clock starts running and counting down as soon as you feel sick on community but it is an ongoing battle there is not one point in time that this mission ends now yes we have done that in lockdown the goal now is to keep up that work so we're now in the next phase of the battle and we are not done I don't think anyone will dispute that I have said that continuously and you've all benefited from hearing that ad nauseum yeah you'll recall that actually I pointed to a scenario in Taiwan for instance with I've managed to get down to very low numbers of cases sometimes zero but in recent days I've had the return of a navy ship that is broadly caseload up so it very much depends on the circumstances but again I also rely on the advice and information by our epidemiologists and by the director-general as to whether or not we're in the position to move to a lower level this morning saying that that did really struggling and with only a handful of cases why are we still and all these restrictions of the level three especially with people like NPS and ministers coming back to work can you justify to me why they can't yes and and look with caution and this is where I would I would really cannot emphasize enough no one wants a second wave in New Zealand and we must guard against that so we're moving cautiously down through the alert level so that we don't have to go backwards that would be terrible for New Zealanders health but also the economy so it is about moving with certainty in the hope that we don't go backwards the next point I would make in terms of why is it that some workplaces are going back and others are not we have placed special requirements at alert level around things like retail or where you have high degrees of contact with large numbers of people in this room right now we know everyone who is in this room and in workplaces we are able to manage them who people are having contact with much harder in hospitality in retail will you have larger numbers coming together and often in close contact as a general guide we've never come I've never come down here and have no intention of coming down here and dramatically lifting alert levels in one announcement without there being a timeline for the way that that will be implemented of course you will have seen to date that often we've given a period of notice whether it's been 48 hours or others that's always been so people can plan and prepare and so that we can do it in a really confident and controlled manner and I think by and large that's been an accepted approach elimination is because yesterday dr.
Ashley Bloomfield said that and we can achieve the goal of elimination obviously what he was referring to is achieving you will have heard illnesses I think just a simple matter of the fact that we are now entering into the world of epidemiologists and they know well what each of these terms mean in a health sense but of course in an everyday sense they mean often something different you'll have heard me continually say elimination does not mean zero cases it will mean an ongoing campaign in zero tolerance for cases we will have to keep stamping covert out until there is a vaccine we are not done but you can see that we have managed successfully under lockdown to end community transmission we need to keep doing that as we go what we do know is that in the same way that impact on revenue for government they'll likewise be with council but actually what we need to ensure is that we have a joined up approach for acknowledging that there are actually now more than ever and need to invest an infrastructure for the stimulus that will be providing was also having an eye to the day-to-day impact of costs in all forms to households when many people are suffering the economic impacts of covered so those are the two competing interests at central government and local government will need to work on together I'm confident we can they haven't had that report from the Ministry of Education but certainly what I'm getting the initial feedback I've had is that the numbers that I can't returning are very low again I'd want to wait for the official word from the Ministry of Education but initial signs are that we're expecting a very very small number to return to schools that says it should be we are still asking people to stay home and work from home and learn from home if they can and I think you'll see tomorrow that that will show up in the low number of people back in ECE and in schools continue keep community say for example reporter are we on the river and they're stopping licensed anglers from fishing near those anglers are upset they say they have every right to fish in evil 3 who's in the right here well we have not removed people's rights at level three around accessing shore based fishing and so that has been the decision that we've made within the alert level framework look what we have continued to do is when local we have had concerns and those in their own areas we've often being able to work that through and so there I would ask Erie to work alongside doc those administering the licensing and police to make sure that we're not impeding what our legal access rights and that we have given permission for again we we have made a decision nationally and it is my job to make sure we have consistency there we've said that we haven't wanted access to dockland for hunters but there will be some crossover and we're accessing some of these areas will require dock land access so some complexity that I'd be keen for us to work through will be we end with dock some are not doing anything to help some who are deferring yeah and this is where we really did look into what we were able to provide here and there were own limitations on how far we could go as a government when it came to commercial leases but what I would again point out is in the best interests of just the New Zealand economy or indeed small business but those commercial landlords in this particular environment not coming to an arrangement that's workable for you in your tenant may end up you may find yourself with a vacant property at a time that will be very very difficult to lease so here we've just are encouraging that dialogue and the same in the same hearing we had another commercial landlord who very much disputed that it wasn't happening again I will keep him keep continually reminding people first and foremost make sure you make the most of the tax provisions that we've put out to help with cash flow issues make sure you use the wage subsidy talk to your bank and talk to your landlord in the meantime as a government we will keep looking and assessing what we can do to keep those businesses operating and keep people employed we've always said that we want to keep monitoring an impact on different sectors and I'd say tourism would be a very obvious one and those who work in the space of large events meets not forget they were the first amongst effused to be affected and the last who are likely to be able to operate again so there are specific areas where we are working on what additional support redeployment or initiatives from government can support the ongoing employment on those people who are previously being in that sector and that's where potentially you start looking at more specific and specially designed initiatives that will address the needs of what are our very particular set of businesses keep in mind with the wage subsidy here we are after five weeks in with a 12-week subsidies still in place and so for us it's actually looking at whether or not there are more specific initiatives that should be designed oh here you see previously just remind everyone that the minister is available for questions as well no it was not above the availability a house but the provisions and the legislation which did not provide us the same provisions under the residential tenancy age you'll remember what we are looking at and of course this requires the house is arrears and the ability to terminate so we're we had the ability to make changes we are ok I do not and then I'll take one leg in what I've we've said all the way through is we are continuing to look at the impact covered 19 is having particularly on our small businesses to see what more the government can do to assist not everyone is going to make it but we do want to make sure that those businesses that are vulnerable but viable are supported as best we can and in last animated in every decision we've made we've always moved as quickly as we can but the wage subsidy has been a very big part of trying to meet some of those immediate cash flow costs in the vast majority has gone to small businesses in particular down the back I think you would have seen last week that cabinet made the decision to invest another thirty million dollars into the seeding efforts and that is to support not only with food but for accommodation where people are experiencing hardship and so I just need to point out that that support through seeding is not just available to New Zealanders or permanent residents or New Zealand citizens it's available to anyone that's here in the country the point is the provision of support is already there Enid so we made sure that because some of us in need is immediate and the likes of Queenstown in particular the fastest way that we could get that support in terms of accommodation immediate food needs and so on was through that support on the ground through the emergency management team that we have down there and so that is essentially what we can income would otherwise do as being directly delivered through that form and I've just explained that this is similar to what the benefit would provide in terms of support obviously there have been burials and those are now able to take place with up to ten people is part of funeral arrangements in terms of wider openings it's actually something I would need to check it a council level thanks everyone.
