Covid 19 Delta outbreak: New community case in Taranaki

A person has tested positive for Covid-19 in Taranaki.

The new case is linked to Eltham Primary School, which is the region's biggest cluster, Taranaki District Health Board announced today.

There are now 23 active community cases in the west coast district.

Of those, six are in Stratford, three are in Waitara, 28 are in Eltham/Hawera and six are in New Plymouth.

For people in Taranaki wanting to get tested during the holiday season, information can be found here.

The Ministry of Health will not be releasing its daily Covid numbers today, Christmas Day.

On Christmas Eve, a patient in their 50s was reported to have died with Covid-19, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The patient was admitted to North Shore Hospital on December 11.

As the country headed into a second festive season in the shadow of the global pandemic, there were 62 cases of Covid-19 in the community yesterday, and 45 people were in hospital including eight in ICU. The average age of people hospitalised was 50.

Cases of the Delta variant, which sparked a months-long lockdown in Auckland in August, have fallen sharply in recent weeks - new community cases were at 56 yesterday, most in Auckland, compared with more than 200 a day just over a month ago.

But fears remain of the newest Covid-19 variant - Omicron - taking hold should the virus slip past MIQ defences.

The highly-infectious variant has been spreading rapidly overseas, with surges in cases numbers since it was first detected, including in South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

The Ministry of Health said yesterday there were 10 new cases at the border - but did not say what variant those travellers had.