New Zealand health chief says 36 active cases in total

New Zealand health chief, Dr Bloomfield, says 36 active cases in total.

The Guardian reports that Dr Bloomfield said all positive cases related to the Auckland cluster must now be managed in a quarantine facility – a departure from how New Zealand handled cases during the lockdown, when it required positive cases to self-isolate at home, or in hospital if they were extremely unwell.

Yesterday 6,006 tests were processed in New Zealand. The total number of swabs collected in the country was 10,000.

Key comments from Bloomfield

“Demand has been high at our dedicated testing centres,”
“We are aware one of the people who has tested positive has visited an aged-care facility in the Waikato,” 
“The visit was when the person wasn’t displaying symptoms, but they developed symptoms the next day.”
 

Market implications

The job facing the RBNZ has only gotten bigger. The virus, if it gains traction will be a factor that the central bank will have to take into consideration which spells a negative OCR and weaker bird.

 QE will likely hit its limits before the economy is out of the woods. Next year, when the financial system is technically ready, we absolutely can’t rule out the possibility of a negative OCR. The bad news delivered last night has ramped up uncertainty, but certainly done nothing to reduce the odds of further OCR cuts next year,

analysts at ANZ Bank explained.