The Ministry of Health's first COVID-19 update of 2022 should show if there are anymore Omicron cases in the community after a British DJ tested positive for the variant after leaving MIQ.
Dimension, AKA Robert Etheridge, was in the community at the end of last year while he tested positive for the COVID-19 variant Omicron, but the MOH said the risk of transmission was low.
Test results from his close contacts should start to come through over the next few days.
What you need to know:
- Auckland and every other area that was at the red traffic light - barring Northland - moved to orange at 11:59pm on December 30th
- 105 new community COVID-19 cases in New Zealand over the past two days - 71 in Auckland, seven in Waikato, 22 in Bay of Plenty, four in Lakes.
- There were two further deaths, both in Auckland City Hospital, taking the total of COVID-19 deaths in NZ to 53.
- There are no new Omicron cases in the comminuty and two more at the border.
- Click here for all locations of interest.
These live updates have finished.
3pm - There were 105 new COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday - a number that reflects new infections over the past two days - and two additional deaths.
Aside from the daily case numbers, you may have missed the details of the Ministry of Health's latest update.
2:30pm - There is one new location of interest. It is:
- Whakātane Aquatic and Fitness Centre, December 27 from 12:22pm to 2:20pm.
2pm - There are just seven more DHBs that need to hit the 90 percent fully vaccinated target. These are:
- Northland: 84 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, 9366 people remaining to hit 90 percent
- Lakes: 88 percent fully vaccinated, 2290 remaining
- Bay of Plenty: 89 percent fully vaccinated, 1260 remaining
- Tairawhiti: 86 percent fully vaccinated, 1690 remaining
- Taranaki: 89 percent fully vaccinated, 658 remaining
- Whanganui: 87 percent fully vaccinated, 1820 remaining
- West Coast: 88 percent fully vaccinated, 655 remaining.
The Northland DHB is still yet to hit 90 percent first doses. It is nearly there, currently sitting at 89 percent with 2386 people remaining.
Click here to see a full breakdown of COVID-19 vaccine data.
1:30pm - The Ministry of Health is reporting two more COVID-19 deaths, both in Auckland City hospital.
Both patients are reported to have died were COVID-19 cases.
The families have requested that no information be publicly provided about these people and, out of respect, the Ministry will not be providing any further details.
1:20pm - There are new community cases in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, and Hawke’s Bay over the past two days.
*The Hawke’s Bay case was first announced on Friday after the reporting cut-off but is being officially included in the tally today.
Auckland
There are 71 new cases being reported in Auckland over the past two days.
Health and welfare providers are now supporting 1264 people to isolate at home, including 355 cases.
Waikato
There were seven new cases reported in the Waikato over two days.
These included three in Te Kūiti, two in Hamilton, one in Ōtorohanga, and one in Matarangi. The Matarangi cases was initially announced as based in Whitianga as investigations were still underway.
Five of these cases have been linked to previous cases and two remain under investigation.
For details of dedicated testing sites operating over the holiday period, please visit the dedicated DHB page or DHB Facebook page.
There were 1501 tests processed in the Waikato over the past two days.
In the Waikato, Public Health, primary care and manaaki providers are supporting 53 cases to isolate at home.
Bay of Plenty
There are 22 new cases to report in Bay of Plenty over the past two days.
Of the cases, 15 are in Tauranga, five are in Western Bay of Plenty and two are in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Fifteen of these are linked to previously reported cases, with the remaining still being investigated for potential links.
All cases are isolating at home or in managed accommodation.
Lakes DHB region
There are four new cases to report in Rotorua over the past two days.
One of today’s cases is linked to a previously reported case, with the remaining still being investigated for potential links.
All cases are isolating at home or in managed accommodation.
1:12pm - Full statement from the Minsitry of Health.
Two DHBs are less than 1000 doses away from reaching their 90% fully vaccinated milestone. As of this morning, Taranaki DHB was 658 doses away from 90% of its eligible population being fully vaccinated, and the West Coast DHB was 655 doses away. Thirteen out of 20 DHBs have reached the 90% milestone.
There were 33 cases identified at the border over the past two days. This number is a reflection on the increase in cases globally and the continued impact of COVID-19 in many parts of the world.
It’s important to note our border measures and managed isolation and quarantine process have adapted over the past two years to minimise the risk of COVID-19 border cases leading to community transmission. These also offer strong protection against the Omicron variant.
In addition, further measures have been introduced recently in response to Omicron cases at the border, including lengthening the period of time overseas arrivals must spend in MIQ from 7 to 10 days, tighter requirements for pre-departure test, and escalating the roll-out of booster doses, especially for those working at our borders. We have strengthened and continue to review infection prevention control measures at the border to minimise the risk of transmission. We have also shifted priorities for whole genome sequencing to focus on areas of greatest risk for Omicron transmission
Omicron update
There are two new Omicron cases at the border to report among recent arrivals at the border, taking the total Omicron cases at the border to date to 90.
There are no community Omicron cases to report.
Testing continues for the contacts of the border-related Omicron case with community exposures, first announced on Wednesday. To date, all test results received from these contacts have been negative.
COVID-19 vaccine update
- Vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people): 3,975,039 first doses (94%); 3,854,768 second doses (92%); 29,184 third primary doses; 327,091 booster doses
- Vaccines administered over the past two days: 720 first doses; 3,892 second doses; 274 third primary doses and 14,501 booster doses.
- Māori (percentage of eligible people): 500,488 first doses (88%); 461,593 second doses (81%)
- Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people): 271,374 first doses (95%); 259,250 second doses (90%)
Vaccination rates by DHB with active cases (percentage of eligible people)
- Northland DHB: First doses (89%); second doses (84%)
- Auckland Metro DHBs: First doses (96%); second doses (94%)
- Waikato DHB: First doses (94%); second doses (90%)
- Bay of Plenty DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (89%)
- Lakes DHB: First doses (92%); second doses (88%)
- Taranaki DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (89%)
- Tairāwhiti DHB: First doses (91%); second doses (86%)
- Hawke’s Bay DHB: First doses (95%); second doses (91%)
- Canterbury DHB: First doses (98%); second doses (95%)
Hospitalisations
- Cases in hospital: 43; North Shore: 8; Auckland: 12; Middlemore: 19; Tauranga: 2; Lakes: 1; Waikato: 1
- Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only): Unvaccinated or not eligible (21 cases / 51.2%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (4 cases / 9.8%); fully vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (14 cases / 34.1%); unknown (2 cases /4.9%)
- Average age of current hospitalisations: 54
- Cases in ICU or HDU: 5 (3 in Auckland; 2 in Tauranga)
Cases
- Seven day rolling average of community cases: 41.9
- Number of new community cases: 105 over two days
- Number of new cases identified at the border: 33 over two days
- Location of new community cases over two days: Auckland (71), Waikato (7), Bay of Plenty (22), Lakes (4), Hawke’s Bay (1)*
- Number of community cases (total): 10,928 (in current community outbreak)
- Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 8,177
- Number of active cases (total): 1,025 (cases identified in the past 21 days and not yet classed as recovered)
- Confirmed cases (total): 13,883
Contacts
- Number of active contacts being managed (total): 5,984
- Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 80%
- Percentage who have returned at least one result: 77%
Tests
- Number of tests total over two days: total 23,603; Friday (14,424), Saturday (9,179)
- Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 10,705
- Auckland tests total over two days: Total (10,466); Friday (6,717), Saturday (3,749)
Wastewater
No unexpected detections
1:10pm - There are 105 new COVID-19 community cases in New Zealand.
1:07pm - A number of Auckland massage parlours are among the latest locations of interest - the Pelican Club, Femme Fatal and The Mermaid are all listed on the Ministery of Health website. It is not stated if the parlours were visited by one person or a few.
See the full list here
12:50pm - The Ministry of Health is expected to release the first COVID-19 numbers of 2022 at 1pm - we will have all the information here.
12:40pm - Experts say that while the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more transmissible there are signs the infection is not a severe as the DElta variant.
This could mean 2022 will be the year we see the pandemic downgraded to an endemic and life start to return to normal.
Read the full story here.
12:07pm - Over the ditch there was a drop in cases in New South Wales to 18,278 on Sunday from 22,577 the previous day.
However the state has more than 1000 people in hospital with the virus.
12:00pm - England reported a record high daily total of 162,572 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, up from 160,276 the previous day, official data showed.
But the risk of hospitalisation with the Omicron variant of coronavirus is about one-third that of the Delta variant, according to British analysis of more than a million cases of both types in recent weeks.
New restrictions in England to slow the spread of COVID-19 will only be introduced as a last resort, health minister Sajid Javid said, stressing that although hospitalisations were rising, the number of patients in intensive care was stable.
