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WORKSTREAM DAILY REPORT
TITLE
Digital Infrastructure Daily Report
22052020-WORKSTREAM Digital Infrastructure DAILY REPORT –
Document reference
COVID 19 FINAL
Date and time
22 May 2020, 1500 hrs
Produced by/location
COVID-19 Digital Infrastructure
Reports are required by 0600hrs daily by
[email address] for inclusion in daily
Tactical Insights Report with a publication time of 0900hrs.
Note: The audience for this report includes Hon Kris Faafoi, Minister of Government Digital Services.
Blue text is a change from the previous SITREP.
Executive summary
1. Contact tracing work continues as our key focus, in particular the COVID card trial and the Ministry
of Health’s NZ COVID Tracer mobile app. We also have begun to focus on our own preparations
and to support agencies to transition to business under Alert Level 2.
2. We continue to work with the following critical sectors and agencies: Health, Education, Justice
(Police, Corrections and Justice), Border (Customs, MPI); National Security (including GCSB and
NZSIS); Finance (Treasury and Reserve Bank); FENZ; ACC; MSD; OT; IR; the Ministry of Housing
and Urban Development; and MBIE.
3. The GCDO continues to work with agencies and vendors to address issues that are blocking the
delivery of critical services. Our focus has narrowed and deepened as we have moved from rapid
responses on multiple fronts to significant programmes of work including, for example, contact
tracing. The content of these situation reports has changed to reflect this change in focus.
4. Current communications messages remain unchanged.
5. The next GCDO report will be on Thursday 28 May 2020. This change to reporting once per week
on Thursdays ties in to the weekly Operations Command Centre reporting cycle to Ministers.
Key facts and figures (work stream specific metrics)
Pain points reported by agencies
6. The GCDO continues to operate on an “as needed” basis to help agencies and vendors with any
requests relating to critical services and support for staff working from home.
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Current operational priorities
Digital inclusion
8. Nothing to report.
GCDO as system facilitator
COVID-19 Technology Response Plan
9. The GCDO has been consulting with agencies on its report back to Cabinet about oversight
requirements for the COVID-19 technology response. Recommendations in the report back were
discussed at the CIO/GCDO/MBIE call on Wednesday 20 May, and another meeting is being
arranged early next week to engage further with agency digital/ICT leaders.
COVID-19 contact tracing
Contact tracing agency support
10. The GCDO is responding to a number of enquiries related to the NZ COVID Tracer app and
supporting MoH in its response (for example, by conveying additional guidance for local
government authorities and others in obtaining QR codes).
11. The GCDO was advised yesterday by MoH that there was an error in MoH’s advertisements in
major newspapers promoting the NZ COVID Tracer app. The error was in the web address for the
app. The GCDO has worked with MoH to establish a new domain name, of which MoH has
control so it can automatically redirect traffic from the incorrect web address to the correct
address. These changes are expected to take 24-48 hours to take full effect.
The COVID Card
12. Further product development and testing is occurring in Waikato to supplement the Nelson trial
of the COVID Card. This work has provided useful insight into the potential of the technology, but
further testing at a greater scale is required to fully understand the effectiveness of the cards. We
are seeking Ministerial approval to conduct a further larger field trial of the cards.
Technical guidance for agencies
13. Nothing to report.
Digital identity
14. Nothing to report.
WhatsApp COVID-19 channel
15. More than 50,000 people have used the channel since its launch on 2 April 2020, and more than
920,000 messages have been received from, and sent to, users.
16. Since the announcement of a move to Alert Level 2, the WhatsApp COVID-19 channel has seen
the number of returning and new users fluctuate. The channel experienced the quietest weekend
on record with just over 1,900 users per day compared to the usual 2,500/3,000+ typically seen
over weekends.
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