Covid-19: Two cases in Tauranga linked to Omicron outbreak

Two cases in Tauranga have been linked to the January Omicron cluster.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson today said they were being treated as Omicron cases and whole-genome sequencing was underway to confirm the variant.

There are also two new cases of Covid-19 in Rotorua. The Rotorua cases were not listed among the Omicron cases.

The two Tauranga cases are in the same household and are isolating at home, the Ministry of Health said.

Case investigations are ongoing but, at this stage, there were a limited number of exposure events associated with these cases.

The Rotorua Covid-19 cases are known contacts of previously reported cases.

There are 25 cases in New Zealand with 10 in hospital, including two in Rotorua Hospital.

There are several new locations of interest for the region

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Omicron update

There are 10 new cases of the Omicron variant reported in New Zealand today, which include the two new Tauranga cases.

There are also six new cases of Omicron in Auckland. All these cases have been linked, directly or indirectly, to a family event and other associated events in Auckland on the weekend of January 15 and 16.

Others include one new case in Nelson Tasman that is a household contact of a previously reported case and was already isolating when they tested positive and one case in Palmerston North that is a household contact of a previously reported case and was already isolating when they tested positive.