There are 144 new community cases in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay.
The case in Hawke’s Bay was confirmed and reported earlier today.
There is also a new case in Canterbury that is being classified as a border case. The case is a child and is isolating at home with family.
The case travelled from Auckland to Christchurch on November 25 on Air NZ Flight NZ8475 arriving in Christchurch at 10.50am. Anyone who is considered a contact of this case will be contacted directly. Unless you are contacted you do not need to do anything other than watch for symptoms and get tested straight away if you develop any symptoms of Covid-19.
This case travelled from London to Doha on November 16 and Doha to Auckland on November 18. They left managed isolation last week and tested positive on their day nine test while in home quarantine.
There are currently 82 people in hospital with Covid-19, nine of whom are in ICU.
Death of a patient at North Shore Hospital
A patient with Covid-19 has died at Auckland City Hospital. The patient, who was in their 80s, was admitted to hospital on November 25.
Omicron variant
Health officials continue to assess the latest international information on the new B.1.1529 variant, which the World Health Organisation has named Omicron.
As a precaution, and based on advice from the director-general of health, the government yesterday added nine countries in southern Africa to the very high risk countries list, placing additional restrictions on travel into New Zealand.
Vaccine producing companies will now start assessing any impact the strain will have on vaccine efficacy. However, the advice to public remains that vaccines are the number one protection against Covid – including against the delta variant responsible for our current outbreak.
There is no change to the advice on booster vaccines, which is for people over-18 to get their booster dose at least six months after their second dose. Anyone who is due a booster shot, which become available to a wider group of people from Monday, is encouraged to book using BookMyVaccine.
There’s no need to rush to get the booster. The science shows fully vaccinated people remain really well protected from infection, and from being seriously ill if they do get Covid-19. There is plenty of existing stock of the Pfizer vaccine in New Zealand now and on order for everyone who needs a booster shot over coming months.
Regional updates
The Ministry of Health is asking anyone in New Zealand with symptoms – no matter how mild – to please get tested, even if you’re vaccinated. Please remain isolated until you return a negative test result. And if you’re not vaccinated, your DHB or local health provider will have plenty of opportunities to make this happen.
Northland
Two cases in Ruakaka, announced yesterday, are being formally included in today’s figure for Northland. In addition, the ministry is announcing a further two cases, one in Kaitaia and one in Whangārei. The Kaitaia case is a close contact of a known case and links between the Whangārei cases and known cases are still being investigated.
The two additional cases were reported after the 9am cut-off and will be officially added to the case numbers tomorrow. Both are self-isolating at home.
Testing and vaccination sites open in Northland can be found on the Northland DHB website.
New locations of interest in Northland continue to be added to the ministry website.
Auckland
Today, there are 127 new cases to report in Auckland. Health staff are now supporting 4,114 people to isolate at home, including 1,119 cases.
Waikato
There were nine new cases confirmed in Waikato overnight, five in Hamilton, two in Te Kūiti, one in Cambridge, one in Kawhia.
All are pending investigation for links today. One location of interest was identified yesterday in Hamilton.
There are five pop-up and dedicated testing sites operating across Waikato today in Hamilton, Ōtorohanga, Huntly, and Te Kūiti.
There are four Covid-19 positive patients in Waikato Hospital, with one patient in ICU. Public Health staff are now supporting 115 cases to isolate at home.
Bay of Plenty
Today there are four new cases in Bay of Plenty. One case is based in the Whakatāne district, three are in the Tauranga area.
The Whakatāne district case and one of the Tauranga cases are linked to previously reported cases. The remaining two Tauranga area cases are household contacts, with their links to previously reported cases still being investigated. All four cases are self-isolating at home.
Investigations are continuing into all cases and locations of interest, if and when they’re identified, they will be added to the Ministry of Health’s website. This is updated regularly.
Public health staff want to reiterate the message to Bay of Plenty locals to get tested if you’re feeling unwell and get your first and second dose of the vaccine if you haven’t already.
Details of testing stations in Bay of Plenty can be found on the Healthpoint website.
Hawke’s Bay
Hawke’s Bay DHB confirmed a community COVID-19 case last night (see 11.45am update today).
