No new cases of COVID-19 in Taranaki today

4 December 2021

There are no new cases of COVID-19 or locations of interest to report in Taranaki today.

The total number of cases for the region has been reduced to one, following four cases now being counted as part of the Waikato district which is the area of residence for four of the people.

There is only one case isolating at home in New Plymouth who is receiving appropriate care and support.

Taranaki DHB’s COVID-19 Response Manager, Gillian Campbell says testing demand surged on Friday following notification of five cases of COVID-19.

“Over 900 tests were completed throughout the region yesterday. It was great to see people responding so positively and getting a test to be sure. Our testing centres, General Practice and the pop-up clinics all had high volumes of people accessing their services thanks to extended hours.”

Testing continues across the weekend with the Base Hospital testing centre open today and tomorrow from 8am-4pm, Hāwera Hospital open 9am-3pm and Tui Ora running another pop-up clinic at the Marfell Community School today only from 10.30am-1.30pm.

Mrs Campbell reports the number of vaccinations also increased in Taranaki yesterday, a sign of people concerned about the positive cases and less restrictions in place under the new traffic light system.

“We vaccinated over 1000 people on Friday, a third of those were first doses which tells us some people may have been waiting to see if COVID-19 would come back into the region.

“There’s no time like the present to ensure you and your whānau are ready and well protected against COVID-19. We expect further cases in our region with the country having more freedoms to move around so please don’t delay getting your vaccinations.”