Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Five new cases in Paihia, NZ to move to phase 3 response

Paihia has seen a sudden jump in cases as the Northland District Health Board reports 45 new cases across Northland today.

Twenty of the new cases are located in Dargaville - an increase of one from yesterday's reported cases for the town.

Whangārei had the next highest number of new daily cases with seven, followed by five in Paihia, three in Kaitāia, two in Kaikohe, one in Kerikeri and one in Kawakawa.

Six new cases remain under investigation and may be transferred to other regions after their whereabouts are pinpointed.

The new cases take Northland's number of active cases to 406 from a total of 621 since October 22 last year.

There are 6137 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today, the Ministry of Health announced.

Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed ahead of the Ministry of Health 1 pm press release that the new case numbers meant New Zealand will move to the third phase of the Omicron response at 11.59pm tonight.

"It will only be confirmed cases and their household contacts who will be required to isolate," said Hipkins.

Rapid antigen tests will be available at thousands of sites nationwide and should be available to buy at retail outlets from next month.

The new phase would also focus more on self-notification, in other words, the onus will be on positive cases alerting their household contacts.

The Ministry of Health has reported 80 new community cases in Northland today and has broken down the location of today's community cases by PCR test results and RAT results.

The location of today's reported community cases that were detected via PCR test are in: Northland (56), Auckland (1,979), Waikato (314), Bay of Plenty (116), Lakes (75), Hawke's Bay (30), MidCentral (69), Whanganui (13), Taranaki (30), Tairāwhiti (26), Wairarapa (11), Capital and Coast (120), Hutt Valley (68), Nelson Marlborough (112), Canterbury (194), South Canterbury (3), Southern (305) and the West Coast (4).

Community cases detected via RATs have been reported in: Northland (24), Auckland (1,900), Waikato (163), Bay of Plenty (75), Lakes (16), Hawke's Bay (30), MidCentral (8), Whanganui (4), Taranaki (4), Wairarapa (4), Capital and Coast (44), Hutt Valley (5), Nelson Marlborough (11), Canterbury (43), South Canterbury (3) and the Southern region (290).

Northland DHB said the Ministry of Health will report different case numbers for Northland "because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence."

Northland Covid 19 testing information can be found at the Northland District Health Board website.

The same website offers information about where to find a Covid vaccination site in Northland.