Community isolation and quarantine implemented in New Plymouth

An agreement has been reached to set up the first managed isolation and quarantine service in Taranaki.

The district health board has signed a contract with an unnamed accommodation provider in New Plymouth that will provide CSIQ service in the city.

The MoH-funded initiative is being rolled out across the country to ensure that as positive Covid-19 cases increase and threaten to cross the Auckland-Waikato borders, they and their contacts can be effectively supported.

He says such facilities will allow the rest of the community to continue to roam freely.

In a statement announcing the deal, the Taranaki District Health Council said it had appointed Ehsan Ullah as the CSIQ service coordinator.

Ullah led the planning and commissioning of the service, working in partnership with a range of local actors.

DHB also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Civil Defense Emergency Management to provide household, animal welfare and cultural support.

The statement did not indicate the capacity of the CSIQ, but said it could be expanded if necessary.

Taranaki currently has no Covid-19 cases or places of interest, and there have been no new findings of the virus in sewage.

More than half of the general population has been fully immunized, 58.7 percent and more than 80 percent received a first dose.

But only 38.9% of eligible Maori receive a double injection while 62.9% received a dose.

The Pacific population is doing better with 54.1% fully vaccinated while 78% received an injection.

The region aims to fully immunize 90 percent and more of eligible people across all demographic categories.

Testing remains busy across the region with 842 tests completed in the past seven days, 16.9% provided by Maori.