Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Wellington Mayor Andy Foster tests positive

Mayor Andy Foster during the Wellington City Council meeting in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellington Mayor Andy Foster has tested positive for Covid-19.

Foster tested positive on Sunday after developing light symptoms earlier that day.
On Monday morning his symptoms were light to moderate, and he will continue some of his duties via Zoom.

Last night I tested positive for COVID-19 and am self-isolating at home with my family for the next seven days. I'll be keeping the virtual meetings pretty light this week and Deputy Mayor Sarah Free will be stepping in for in-person events. Stay safe everyone. pic.twitter.com/HBMXj0EsZs

— Mayor of Wellington (@MayorOfWelly) May 22, 2022

He will remain in isolation at home for seven days.

Deputy Mayor Sarah Free will step in for the mayor during his absence as required.

It comes as New Zealand recorded 4990 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday and a further 10 deaths.

Two of the deaths were from the Auckland region, two from Waikato, one from Lakes, one from MidCentral; three from Canterbury, and one from Southern.

Nine men and one woman died, taking the number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1055.

There are 379 people in hospital with the virus, including 9 in intensive care.

There are now 55,565 active cases in the community in New Zealand and 60 new imported cases to report.

In total, there have been 1,094,659 cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand since the beginning of the pandemic.