14 new Covid-19 community cases in NZ today

January 11, 2022
Covid-19 test (file photo).

There are 14 new Covid-19 cases in the community on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.

The ministry said the low number was "welcome news" but it's likely cases will rise again.

"The low number of cases reported today is welcome news, particularly with increasing testing numbers. We thank New Zealanders for the care they have taken over the holiday period while travelling across the country and connecting with friends and family.

"However, we know case numbers can be quite variable from day to day and it remains likely that there will be a rise again in coming days."

The ministry uged the public to remain vigilant against Covid-19, encouraging the use of scanning in, face masks and vaccination.

"With Omicron cases continuing to be detected at our border, vaccination remains our key defence against all variants of Covid-19, including Omicron."

The new cases were found in Auckland (9), Northland (2), Waikato (2), Wellington (1).

There are also two new cases to announce in the Canterbury region, however the ministry said these cases were notified after the daily cut-off time and will be officially be added to Wednesday's numbers.

The new cases are in South Canterbury and Canterbury.

"The South Canterbury case remains under investigation but shares a location of interest with a previously reported case," the ministry said.

"The Canterbury case remains under investigation for any link to previously reported cases."

Meanwhile, one of the Northland cases was reported on Monday, but officially added to Tuesday's tally.

The new Northland case is in Whangārei, with investigations into links to previously reported cases ongoing.

In Waikato, one case is from Coromandel and one is from Te Aroha.

The ministry said one of the two new cases is unlinked.

The Wellington case is linked to the Hidden Valley Festival in Matakana, north of Auckland, the ministry said.

"Case investigations are ongoing, and locations of interest will be added as they are confirmed."

Tuesday's new cases bring the total in this outbreak to 11,183, and the total overall to 14,381.

There are also 34 people with Covid-19 in hospital. There are 13 cases at Middlemore, 12 at Auckland City, four each at North Shore and Tauranga and one at Waikato hospitals.

One Middlemore case and one Tauranga case are in intensive care or a high dependency unit.

The average age of those in hospital with Covid-19 is 55.

“Today we are reporting there are no Covid-19 cases in hospital in Northland, correcting our reports for the past two days," the ministry says.

“Our systems inadvertently picked up an historical case who had previously been in hospital.”

The last time a case was hospitalised in Northland was in November.

There are now 4922 contacts linked to the outbreak, of which 82 per cent have been contacted and 79 per cent have received at least one test.

On Monday, 14,705 tests were processed in New Zealand, including 6761 in Auckland.

On vaccines, 1384 first doses, 3967 second doses, 724 third doses and 47,796 booster doses were administered on Monday.

"A total of 548,733 booster doses have now been given since they became available in late November 2021, representing more than 36 per cent of those who are currently eligible," the ministry said.

"Boosters are strongly recommended for anyone over 18 who has had their second dose at least 4 months ago."

There were also nine border cases to report on Tuesday. They arrived from Australia, India, Singapore, Netherlands, Philippines, the US, France and Fiji.

There were no unexpected Covid-19 wastewater detections to report on Tuesday.

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