Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: 103 new cases today, person in 70s dies with Covid

There are 103 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today.
Video / NZ Herald

There are 103 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today, and one new death.

The Ministry of Health says the person who died was in their 70s, had a number of underlying health conditions and was receiving appropriate ward-level care at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital.

The Ministry did not say how many of today’s cases had been confirmed as Omicron.

There is usually a lag before officials confirm through whole-genome sequencing whether a person has caught the Delta or Omicron variant of the virus.

But it’s likely many of the community cases will be Omicron given the new variant is much more transmissible and has rapidly become dominant wherever it has taken hold.

Fifty-six of the new cases are in Auckland, and another 40-odd cases have also been found but won’t be recorded until tomorrow due to a technical glitch.

Others are spread across Northland, Waikato, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Hawke’s Bay, MidCentral, Taranaki, Wellington, and Nelson-Tasman.

In Auckland, 891 people are isolating at home, including 288 cases.

There are 11 people in hospital with Covid, with an average age of 58. None are in ICU or HDU.

Public health teams were continuing to manage Omicron cases in the community, the Ministry said.

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“We are expecting the number of cases connected to the Soundsplash music festival in Hamilton last weekend to grow over the coming days as further test results are received. The Ministry of Health is continuing to advise all attendees to get a test, if they have not already done so.”

Everyone in New Zealand was asked to act as if Omicron was circulating in their community.

“That means wearing a mask, physical distancing and scanning in using the Covid-19 Tracer app, when you’re out and about.”

The most common early symptoms of Omicron were a sore or scratchy throat, and a runny nose. People with these symptoms, should get a test, and stay at home until receiving a negative result.

In the last 24 hours there were 18,765 tests, including 9832 in Auckland.

Yesterday 9,108 children aged between 5-11 received a vaccine dose, bringing the total to 159,296.

There were also 30,146 booster doses yesterday, with 1,287,972 people now boosted.

Overall 96 per cent of over-12s have had a first dose of the vaccine, including 764 people who got their first dose on Saturday.

And 94 per cent have had a second dose including 1300 from Saturday.

For Māori people over 12, 90 per cent have had a first dose and 85 per cent have had their second. Of Māori tamariki aged between 5-11, just 18 per cent have had their first dose – compared to 33 per cent of children aged 5-11 across the population.

Pacific peoples are 97 per cent for first doses and 94 per cent for second doses, while 23 per cent of Pacific children aged 5-11 have had a dose of the paediatric vaccine.

Cases at the border come from the United Kingdom, Australia, India, the United States of America, Spain, Qatar, Fiji, Lebanon, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as several whose travel histories are not yet known.

Northland

Three of the four new community cases in Northland were reported yesterday, while the fourth is a household member of an existing case.

Waikato

Ten of the 12 new cases in the Waikato have been linked to previous cases, but two are still being investigated.

Seven are from Hamilton, two in Paeroa, one in Waihi, and two unconfirmed locations. There were 1620 tests processed in Waikato yesterday and 40 people are isolating at home with Covid.

Lakes

All eight Lakes cases are in the Rotorua district, with two of them not yet linked to existing cases.

Bay of Plenty

In the Bay of Plenty there are 14 new cases – eight are contacts of known cases while three are still being investigated.

Six are in the Western Bay, four in Tauranga and one in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

There are also three cases onboard the Singapore-flagged Maersk Bogor container ship which is under quarantine at the Port of Tauranga.

Bay of Plenty public health officials are encouraging anyone in Katikati who has symptoms or has been at a location of interest anywhere in New Zealand, to get tested.

Tairāwhiti

The one new case in Tairāwhiti is linked an existing case and also has links to the Soundsplash festival.

Hawke’s Bay

There are three new cases in Hawke’s Bay which have not yet been linked to existing cases.

MidCentral

One new case in MidCentral is linked to an existing case in Tairāwhiti. Two bus journeys related to this person will be published as locations of interest today – anyone who was on either bus is a close contact and must call the Covid Healthline on 0800 358 5453 or register here.

The buses are:

• InterCity IC6965 bus from Gisborne to Napier which left Gisborne on Friday, January 28 at 9.30am and arrived in Napier at 1pm, and

• InterCity IC6367 bus from Napier to Wellington, which departed Napier on Friday, 28 January at 1.50pm and arrived in Wellington at 7.45pm.

The case got off the bus at Palmerston North, where they later tested positive, but the entire trip is a location of interest and all passengers are close contacts.

Taranaki

One new case in Taranaki is a close contact of cases from the Hawkes Bay region, and has already been isolating in South Taranaki.

Wellington

There are two new cases in Wellington – one in the Hutt Valley, linked to an event in Auckland, and one case in Capital & Coast DHB already in isolation and linked to an existing case.

Wastewater in Porirua has tested positive again, so anyone in the area or in Wellington’s northern suburbs is urged to get tested if they have symptoms.

Locations of interest are being published from across the Wellington region including two inbound flights – with everyone on board deemed close contacts.

Nelson-Tasman

One new case in Nelson-Tasman was a person who transferred from Christchurch and is isolating in Nelson. Officials are still investigating how they are linked to the outbreak.

The Prime Minister took a PCR test this morning and is waiting for the result, which could come later today. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The update comes as the Prime Minister awaits a Covid test result after a flight attendant on her flight NZ8273 from Kerikeri to Auckland tested positive for Covid-19.

All those on the flight, which include Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro and Ardern’s chief press secretary Andrew Campbell, are considered close contacts.

The Prime Minister took a PCR test this morning and is waiting for the result, which could come later today.

Ardern “remains asymptotic and continues to feel well,” a spokesperson said.

Ardern and Kiro were returning from Waitangi last Saturday after filming pre-recorded speeches for Waitangi Day.

That flight has been deemed as “high risk” on the Ministry of Health’s updated locations of interest list.

A statement released by the Prime Minister’s office shortly after 10pm on Saturday said: “Whole genome sequencing for the case has been requested with an expected result on Sunday.

“The result is expected to indicate that the case has been infected with the Omicron variant and the public health response reflects this.

Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pose for an official photo during a swearing-in ceremony at Parliament in October. Photo / Getty Images

“All other passengers on board NZ8273 are also deemed close contacts and are required to self-isolate, get tested immediately and remain in isolation for 10 days following their exposure.”

They will also need to follow further isolation and testing requirements provided by public health officials.

“The Prime Minister is asymptomatic and is feeling well. In line with Ministry of Health advice she will be tested immediately [on Sunday] and will isolate until Tuesday,” the statement said.

“The Governor-General and members of her staff were also on board and are following the same isolation instructions.

Yesterday, a total of 97 new community cases of Covid-19 were reported – 11 of which had been confirmed as the Omicron variant.

Rotorua Airport among locations of interest

A Burger Fuel restaurant in New Plymouth with indoor seating has been listed as a high risk Covid-19 location of interest today.

Health officials said anyone who visited Burger Fuel at Elliott St between 2pm and 3pm on January 25 should self-isolate and get tested for Covid immediately.

A second test should be taken on day five and further isolation and testing requirements will be provided, said health officials.

Earlier, three Wellington region businesses, Rotorua Airport and a burger restaurant in Kerikeri were named locations of interest this morning.

None of the locations of interest are deemed high risk but people are advised to self-monitor for symptoms for 10 days, get a test and stay at home until they get a negative test result.

The three locations of interest in the Wellington region are Synergy Hair at Queensgate between 4pm and 5pm on January 23, SuperValue at Cannons Creek in Porirua between 11.05am and 11.15am on January 24, and Preservatorium Cafe at Te Aro in central Wellington between 7.37am and 8.10am on January 25.

Anyone who was at Rotorua Airport between 9.54am and 10am on January 27 and Burger Fiasko in Kerikeri between 3.30pm and 4pm on January 27 must follow the self-monitoring guidelines.

Act: Case should be a ‘turning point’

Act Party leader David Seymour said the fact it had taken seven days to identify close contacts showed contact tracing was a “costly charade” that had little effect on spread.

“Once again the Government has been caught taking a nap as it takes seven long days to identify close contacts of Omicron,” Seymour said.

Act Party leader David Seymour said the fact it had taken seven days to identify close contacts showed contact tracing was a “costly charade”. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“Jacinda was a close contact of an Omicron case a week before it was made public. She was a close contact on Saturday 22nd and the public was informed on Saturday a week later.

“This experience should be a turning point for Jacinda’s approach to Covid. She might ask herself ‘Why am I isolating when contact tracing is too slow for it to be effective, maybe we should stop forcing otherwise healthy people to isolate if it makes no difference? How many other people am I willing to put through this?”

Cases could double roughly every three days – modeller

As the PM and Governor-General isolate, New Zealanders have been told they should expect Covid-19 cases to roughly double every three days from now on and to assume all new infections are Omicron.

Yesterday, just 11 of the 97 new community cases had been confirmed as the Omicron variant.

However, University of Auckland Covid-19 modeller and expert in the spread of complex networks, Dr Dion O’Neale, said at this stage of the Omicron outbreak we should assume all new cases are of that more infectious variant.

New Zealanders have been told they should expect Covid-19 cases to roughly double every three days from now on and to assume all new infections are Omicron. Photo / Brett Phibbs

“Even if we expected Delta numbers to be growing a little bit as people came back from holiday, it was only a few days ago that we had enough Omicron cases to be comparable to Delta.

“We’d expect from that point Omicron to growing much faster, if for no other reason than the current vaccine levels are giving you much more protection against Delta than they are against Omicron.”

Active cases being treated as Omicron have now been detected in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, MidCentral, Canterbury, Tairāwhiti/Gisborne and Nelson-Tasman.

To date, 116 community cases of Covid-19 have either been confirmed by whole-genome sequencing as the Omicron variant or have been linked to a previously reported Omicron case.