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Home / New Zealand

Covid-19: Auckland Airport worker, contact of MIQ staffer confirmed as Omicron cases

NZ Herald
19 Jan, 2022 10:45 AM3 mins to read

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There are 24 Covid-19 cases in the community today. Video / NZ Herald

An Auckland Airport worker and a household contact of an MIQ worker have both been confirmed as Omicron cases.

The Ministry of Health on Wednesday night also published a new Covid-19 location of interest - with one of the cases visiting Ara-Tai Café in Half Moon Bay, Auckland.

According to a statement from the ministry, anyone seated inside at the cafe between 12.30pm and 2pm on Tuesday (January 18) is considered a close contact and is asked to self-isolate and get tested immediately.

Anyone who was seated outside is a casual contact.

Any further locations of interest will be added to the Ministry of Health's website if necessary.

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"We are taking a prudent approach and encouraging all Aucklanders to check the Locations of Interest website regularly and follow the advice provided. If you have symptoms of Covid-19 please get a test immediately and if you were at any of these venues contact Healthline (0800 358 5453)," the ministry said.

A further update will be provided in the ministry's 1pm Covid-19 media release on Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the ministry announced 56 new cases had been detected at the border in the last 24 hours.

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The airport worker, who is double vaccinated and has had a booster dose, tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday. Whole genome sequencing for this case was carried out on Wednesday, with the case treated as Omicron while the variant was being confirmed, "out of an abundance of caution".

The airport worker was infectious from January 15 - but they were not at work while infectious, the ministry said.

The case has one household contact who has returned an initial negative test result.

A further 15 contacts among the Stamford Plaza staff are currently isolating at home as contacts of the MIQ worker with Omicron and their co-worker.

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The worker's household contact who returned a positive test yesterday is isolating at home.

Two other household contacts are symptomatic but returned negative tests yesterday.

The border worker's co-worker who is symptomatic remains in MIQ and has returned a further negative test.

Whole genome sequencing has linked the border worker's infection to a person who arrived in New Zealand on a flight that landed on January 8 and tested positive on day 1, January 9, of their stay at the Stamford Plaza and was transferred to MIQ on 10 January.

As of Wednesday morning, 84 contacts had been identified in relation to the MIQ border worker.

Of those, 79 had returned negative test results and one household contact has returned a positive result, which was reported earlier.

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According to the ministry, the number of contacts could fluctuate as further investigation rules them out.

The highly transmissible Omicron is sweeping the globe. Though New Zealand's MIQ systems have been trying to keep the new variant out, experts have warned it is just a matter of time until it spreads in the community.

The Government is set to outline plans for how it will respond to an Omicron outbreak on Thursday. It has already said we will move to the red traffic light setting when Omicron enters the country in a bid to slow the infection rate and prevent hospitals being overwhelmed.

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