No positive tests linked to MIQ worker

There were 42 new cases of Covid-19 at the border and 16 new community cases reported yesterday.

The new community cases were in Auckland (seven), Lakes (six), Hawke’s Bay (one – first reported on Sunday), Wairarapa (one). A historical case has also been identified in the West Coast area.

Meanwhile, testing of close contacts of a managed isolation and quarantine worker with the Omicron variant had so far come back negative, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern earlier advised. The worker tested positive over the weekend. All seven household contacts have already returned one negative test result and remain in isolation. Of the case’s 67 close contacts, 43 had returned negative test results, the Ministry of Health said. Five close contacts previously identified in Taupo¯, who all returned negative day five test results, have been transferred to a MIQ facility in Waikato. Auckland Regional Public Health was looking for ‘‘any possible routes of transmission’’ between returnees at the Stamford Plaza and the MIQ worker. MIQ staff at this facility were having extra tests.

Thirty people were in hospital with Covid-19 yesterday, including two in intensive care or highdependency care units.