Covid-19: 49 new community cases, 46 in hospital

Friday, 31 December 2021

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins estimated there were up to 100 contacts of the man who tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

There are 49 new cases of Covid-19 in the community and 46 people in hospital with the virus, according to the Ministry of Health.

Eight people with Covid-19 are in intensive care units.

There are 10 new cases of the Omicron variant at the border, but no new Omicron cases in the community, the ministry said.

The Ministry of Health provided a Covid-19 update in a statement on Friday afternoon. (File photo)

Twenty-two of today’s new cases are in Auckland, 19 in Bay of Plenty, four in Lakes, three in Waikato and one in Hawke’s Bay.

* How to judge the actions of Dimension, the first NZ Omicron case in the community

A UK music artists known as Dimension has Omicron variant and was in the community Auckland. Six of his 88 close contacts have tested negative for Covid-19.

* Covid-19: Second Omicron case in community confirmed

The ministry gave the update in a statement at 1pm.

It came after two cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 were detected in the community this week – a UK music artist known as Dimension, and an Air New Zealand crew member.

All eight close contacts of the Air New Zealand crew member Omicron case have returned negative results, while six of the close contacts of the UK music artist have also tested negative.

The six close contacts attended the Hidden Lakes festival, and the ministry’s statement said the results meant there was no public health risk associated with the event.

Contact tracing has now identified a total of 88 close contacts for the first community Omicron case, the ministry said.

But it said microbiologists had advised the risk of transmission from the UK artist was low.

Eighty of the musician’s close contacts have been reached, have been tested and are isolating, the ministry said. It said contact tracers were working urgently to reach the remaining eight close contacts.

Dimension, aka Robert Etheridge, flew to New Zealand on December 16 and completed seven days in managed isolation and three days in home isolation.

Etheridge tested positive on December 27 – the result of a day 9 test – but had visited several locations in Auckland prior to receiving his test result, becoming New Zealand’s first Omicron community case.

The Air New Zealand crew member, who worked on a flight between Auckland and Sydney on December 24, returned a positive test result on Thursday – detected from routine surveillance testing.

The case is linked to three other Omicron cases on the same flight.

There are no locations of interest linked to the Air New Zealand crew member and the risk to the public is deemed low, the ministry said.

The ministry said it was also shifting its prioritisation for whole genome sequencing of positive cases from international arrivals to border-related workers and their families.

It said now that all international arrivals were required to complete a full 10 days in managed isolation and return a negative day nine test before release, the risk of transmission from these cases was deemed low. However, it added that samples from arrivals will still be dealt with within 48 hours.

The ministry said the greater risk of Omicron entering the community was from border-related workers and their families, now that it will assume all recent arrivals who test positive as having the Omicron variant.

It said these tests will now be prioritised and dealt with within 12 hours.

On Thursday, there were 60 new community cases of Covid-19 and 44 people in hospital.

Twenty of the reported cases were in Auckland.

Two exposure events in Waikato took its daily case number to 28, surpassing Auckland’s case numbers for the first time.