9. Question No. 9—HealthDr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 9—Health9. Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of Health: How is New Zealand prepared for a second coronavirus wave and how are recent community surveillance testing numbers a part of that preparation?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Health): New Zealand's now gone 96 days without any evidence of community transmission of COVID-19 but we cannot afford to be complacent. The virus continues to rage around the world. We're putting huge effort into containing it at our border but we're also preparing for possible new cases in the community. On 15 July the Prime Minister and I set out the framework for our ongoing approach with its focus on containing and stamping out any new cases. Central to that is the continuing work we are doing to constantly strengthen our testing and contact tracing capability. We currently have the capacity to process around 13000 tests a day but that could surge to up to 23000 tests per day if needed. We'd also see further use of pop-up testing surveillance sites like the one that we saw in Queenstown yesterday which gathered more than a thousand samples in a single day.Dr Shane Reti: When the Director-General of Health describes a second coronavirus wave in New Zealand as not if but when" and "inevitable" when does current modelling suggest the timing of that second wave and how will reinfection likely occur?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: There is no specific timing. I think the director-general is stating the obvious: that we cannot be complacent. This is something that the Prime Minister myself every Minister of the Government the director-general and all of the health experts who comment on COVID-19 have all been saying—that we must be prepared for the fact that a second outbreak of COVID-19 could happen at any time. The secret to avoiding that becoming a big problem for New Zealand is making sure that our contact tracing system is robust which is what the Government has been doing so that we can isolate it and stamp it out quickly before widespread community transmission takes off.Dr Shane Reti: Which of the 10 personal protective equipment (PPE) recommendations from the Office of the Auditor-General report in June have been fully implemented in preparation for a second wave?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: That work is ongoing. One of the things that I'll have more to say about tomorrow is some of the findings around face masks; there'll be more on that. We'll be issuing clearer guidance around face masks tomorrow. Work has been under way to ensure that the stocks of PPE have been increased and that work has been very successful. We've got very strong levels of PPE in storage now. I can say that in addition to that there is PPE available for the public to purchase and I'd certainly encourage them to do that. As they have an earthquake preparedness kit at home they should have a kit at home to prepare for any further outbreak of COVID-19 as well.Dr Shane Reti: Which of the 14 recommendations from the Waitakere Hospital incident report in May have been fully implemented in preparation for a second wave?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I don't have that with me. If the member wants information that's as specific as that then he should give some indication of that in his primary question.Dr Shane Reti: Which of the three critical recommendations in the Ayesha Verrall contact tracing report in May have been fully implemented in preparation for a second wave?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: All of the recommendations in the Verrall report have been fully implemented.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Has the Minister indicated in the House today that tomorrow there might be an announcement requiring New Zealanders to make greater use of face masks?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No the announcement tomorrow will be around the conditions on which we would ask New Zealanders to use face masks. That is something that we have had a number of questions on and we'll be providing greater guidance on that tomorrow."