Kia ora Alan

 

 

Thank you for your email and our sincerest apologies for the delay in
responding to your request.

 

Information in response to your queries is outlined below.

 

Please provide all documentation provided by the MOH to other health and
testing agencies / labratories relating to the cycling of the PCR tests in
order to identify Sars-Cov-2 virus.

 

Testing guidance for the health sector is publicly available on the
Ministry of Health  (the Ministry) website at the following address:
[1]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise....
As you will note, the testing guidance for the health sector is regularly
updated to reflect current conditions. This is to make sure our
stakeholders can appropriately implement the testing plan. It is important
to note that the Ministry, in conjunction with the Institute of
Environmental Science and Research (ESR), continue to monitor emerging
COVID-19 testing technologies and their potential application in the New
Zealand context.

 

Please provide the details of how many positive covid-19 test cases have
been sequenced and compared against a isolated Sars-cov-2 virus.

 

This information is not held by the Ministry; however, we are querying
whether this part of your request can be transferred to ESR under section
14(b)(i) of the Official Information Act 1982. We will let you know if a
partial transfer is appropriate as soon as possible.

 

For your information, genome sequencing is attempted on all COVID-19
positive samples, typically through a routine sequencing run once a week
at ESR. However, at the request of the Ministry of Health or a Public
Health Unit, ESR is able to process samples more urgently. Further
information is available on ESR’s website
[2]https://www.esr.cri.nz/our-expertise/cov....
Information about confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand
is also available on the Ministry website, which may be useful to you:
[3]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...

 

Please all research papers and findings related to the isolation of the
Sars-cov-2 virus, including internal meeting notes and minutes.

 

Please note the Ministry does not conduct scientific research or studies.
You may wish to refer to online scientific studies for further
information: [4]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. Please also note
information relevant to your request has been previously published on the
Ministry website here:
[5]https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/....

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [6][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.

 

 

Ngâ mihi

 

OIA Services Team

 

[7]Ministry of Health information releases

[8]Unite against COVID-19

 

 

 

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[11][FOI #15276 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[12]https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

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References

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1. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
2. https://www.esr.cri.nz/our-expertise/cov...
3. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
5. https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/...
6. mailto:[email address]
7. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
8. https://covid19.govt.nz/
9. mailto:[FOI #15276 email]
10. mailto:[email address]
11. mailto:[FOI #15276 email]
12. https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...