Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: 20 residents tested positive at Dunedin aged care facility

There's been a Covid-19 outbreak at an aged residential care facility in Dunedin.

The Southern District Health Board was told today that the outbreak, in an unnamed facility, had resulted in 20 of 26 residents testing positive to Covid-19.

It was being managed within the facility and none of the residents had required hospital care, SDHB Covid response leader Hywel Lloyd said.

"We have taken broad advice across our clinical teams and also from the experience of Canterbury around Redwood.''

A major outbreak at the Redwood rest home in Christchurch last year resulted in several cases.

There is one person with Covid-19 in hospital in the South; they were in Southland Hospital for other reasons but also had Covid-19, Dr Lloyd said.

Case numbers were holding steady but that probably reflected under-reporting of cases confirmed by Rats tests, Dr Lloyd said.

In Dunedin last week, positivity rates for Covid-19 tests had been more than 20 and had neared 30% at one point, he said.