15 new Omicron community cases in NZ on Wednesday

January 26, 2022
Covid-19 signs outside store.

There are 23 new Covid-19 cases in the community on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health has announced.

Of those 15 are the Omicron variant of the virus.

Wednesday's new community cases are located in Northland (1), Auckland (12), Waikato (3), Rotorua (5), Wellington (1) and Nelson Marlborough (1).

The 15 new Omicron cases are in Auckland, Taranaki and Nelson Marlborough.

Six people are in hospital with Covid-19. No one is an intensive care or high dependency unit.

Joy Reid has some handy tips about what you’ll need to complete isolation.

The ministry said to date there are 56 Omicron community cases. They include 44 cases directly or indirectly linked to events the Nelson family attended on the weekend of January 15 and 16.

Twelve cases are linked to three border workers — the Stamford Plaza worker announced on January 16, a worker who works at Auckland airport on January 19 and the Auckland Airport worker announced on January 21.

Including the border workers themselves, eight are associated with the Stamford Plaza worker and three with the January 21 Auckland Airport worker.

No additional cases have been linked to the January 19 worker who works at Auckland airport.

The Taranaki Omicron case was on the same flight as the flight attendant linked to the Nelson Tasman family cluster. The person has been isolating since being identified as a close contact, the ministry said.

All close contacts are being tested for Covid-19 and remain in isolation.

"Whole genome sequencing is underway but, in the interim, this case is being treated as a suspected Omicron."

The case was notified after the ministry’s reporting deadline and will be included in Thursday's numbers.

Locations of interest will be published on the Ministry of Health website as they are identified.

Of the 12 Covid-19 cases in Auckland on Wednesday, some have been linked to known or suspected Omicron cases while the others remain under investigation.

"Health and welfare providers are now supporting 649 people in the region to isolate at home, including 168 cases," the ministry said.

There were three Covid-19 cases reported in Nelson Marlborough on Wednesday, all of which are suspected Omicron cases.

One of the cases is part of a household linked to the January Omicron cluster associated with the several private events in Auckland on the weekend of January 15 and 16, the ministry said.

The other two were detected on Wednesday morning and are under investigation.

The ministry said Northland's community case is linked to an earlier case.

Of the three new cases in the Waikato, the first is linked and investigations are underway to determine a link for the second.

The third case normally lives in the Waikato, but was tested in Rotorua. Management of the case is being transferred to Lakes DHB.

All five cases recorded in Lakes on Wednesday are in Rotorua.

"Three cases are linked to previously reported cases, and investigations are underway to determine a link for the remaining two," the ministry said.

The case recorded in Wellington is under investigation to determine a link.

Thirty-six Covid-19 cases were also announced at the border on Wednesday.

They had arrived in New Zealand between January 13 and January 24 from the UK, Fiji, United Arab Emirates, Australia, US, India, Colombia, Pakistan, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Sri Lanka, Iran and Qatar.

On Tuesday, 25 community cases were announced. Ten of them were the Omicron variant.

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