Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Two cases in Murupara

There are now two Covid-19 community cases in Murupara, a town that has one of the Bay of Plenty's lowest vaccination rates.

Five new cases were reported in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board area today - four in Tauranga and one in Murupara.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said today's confirmed Murupara case was a household contact of a previously reported case.

Iiwi health provider Te Ika Whenua Hauora was managing testing and vaccination with support from the DHB.

Murupara Community Board chairwoman Jackie Te Amo said her "thoughts and prayers" were with the family.

"I'm hoping that the families inside our ward have actually got protection - that they are vaccinated."

Te Amo said health providers such as Te Ika Whenua Hauora had processes in place for the families and how best to look after them.

"I know that every iwi is doing pretty much their Covid plans inside our ward.

"I'm really impressed that everybody is pulling together."

She encouraged people to keep getting tested and if they were feeling unwell, and asked people to "think about other families" before going to "areas that you shouldn't be".

Just over half of the Murupara eligible population was fully vaccinated. Photo / George Novak

Murupara is in the Whakatāne district of the Bay of Plenty region. It is on the banks of the Rangitaiki River, around 60km southeast of Rotorua. It had a population of 1815 in the 2018 Census.

Just over half - 51.6 per cent - of Murupara's eligible population was fully vaccinated and 67 per cent had had their first dose, according to Ministry of Health data. Data also shows 48.9 per cent of its Māori population was fully vaccinated.

The town's vaccination rates were far lower than other areas of the Bay of Plenty DHB catchment such as Tauranga Central with 91.1 per cent and Whakatāne Central with 81.7 per cent fully vaccinated.

Rotorua Central, in the Lakes DHB, was 87.5 per cent fully vaccinated.

On Tuesday, the Bay of Plenty DHB overall had recorded 93 per cent first doses and 88 per cent second doses, of the eligible population, the ministry reported.