With Labour Weekend approaching the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield is reminding everyone to up their game to ensure no new outbreak of COVID-19 occurs.

With the long weekend, many people are expected to be actively travelling and socialising, he said, and he reminded everyone to get back into the habit of using the QR codes, washing hands, physical distancing, practising good cough and sneeze etiquette, staying home if unwell, and wearing a mask if travelling on public transport, including aircraft.

“If we do these things...over this long weekend that is how we will avoid going into alert level 2 or up into further alert levels particularly with this long weekend coming.”

“This is a good opportunity for us all to reflect on the fact we’d like a good summer holiday over Christmas and New Year and if we can embed these behaviours we are much more likely to be able to do that,” he said.

He said the use of QR codes around the country had dropped to around 500,000 scans per day, considerably lower than the several million scans recorded when Auckland was at alert level 2 and 3.

Record where you have been, he said. “If you see a QR code scan it….Please get back into the habit; it’s a small thing you can do but it can have a huge benefit.”

Businesses are still required to display QR codes and, Ashley said, businesses should encourage their customers to use the codes, especially hospitality venues, such as restaurants and bars, which tend to be more crowded.

“The most important advice on gatherings is if you are intending to attend a gathering and you’re unwell, don’t attend,” he said

Anyone who becomes unwell while away from home should contact Healthline as their staff will be able to give advice, including the location of testing sites.

The long weekend, the first since June, is a popular time for people to take a well earned break “but remember this virus does not take breaks,” Ashley cautioned. “So wherever you go, whatever you’re doing over Labour weekend...please let’s all do [these] few things.”

There are currently 58 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand, including two new imported cases in quarantine today (Thursday, October 22), as well as 18 seamen in the managed isolation facility at the Sudima Hotel near Christchurch Airport. 

Community testing of people who visited The Malt bar in Greenhithe, Auckland, last Friday, as well as their household contacts, is continuing today after the Ministry of Health issued an alert notice last night (Wednesday October 21). A workplace contact of the port worker, who tested positive last week, visited that pub last Friday.

The pub is what we call an “exposure event” – where people have potentially been in contact with COVID-19 by being in the same place at the same time as someone who has been infected with the virus, Ashley said. 

“It’s another example of the importance of keeping track of where you have been and who you have seen, and of scanning in using the [COVID-19] app wherever you go,” he said. “Quickly getting in touch with people who may have been exposed to the virus and getting them isolated and tested is how we limit the spread of COVID-19.”

PHOTO: Supplied