Covid-19: 31 new community cases
There are 31 new community cases of Covid-19 and a third border-related case with the Omicron variant.
In a statement this afternoon, the Ministry of Health said there were 14 new community cases in Auckland, one in Waikato, 12 new cases in Bay of Plenty and four cases in Lakes.
Twenty-nine cases have been found at the border. The Ministry said that although genome sequencing of these cases has not yet occurred it is expected some will be the Omicron variant.
The person with Omicron is a household contact of the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive last week with the highly transmissible variant.
They have now been transferred to an MIQ facility and is fully vaccinated and was in isolation during their symptomatic period, the Ministry said.
There are currently 53 patients with Covid-19 in hospital including 22 in Middlemore, 16 in Auckland, nine in North Shore, five in Tauranga and one in Rotorua. There are six patients with Covid-19 in ICU or HDU.
Almost half (20) are either unvaccinated or ineligible for the vaccine. Eight people had received one dose, 14 were fully vaccinated with the remainder unknown.
