Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Person with Covid 19 dies in Bay of Plenty rest home

One person with Covid-19 has died in a Bay of Plenty rest home.

The Ministry of Health said today the person died of an unrelated medical condition while receiving palliative care and had tested positive for Covid-19.

This comes as 1332 new cases were reported in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board area today and 537 in the Lakes District Health Board area today.

These include both PCR and RATs tests.

Toi Te Ora-Public Health today reported 856 new cases in Tauranga City, 407 in Rotorua District, 263 in Western Bay of Plenty, 143 in Whakatane District, 36 in Kawerau, 34 in Ōpōtiki and 130 in Taupō.

There are currently 7945 active cases in the Bay of Plenty DHB area and 2698 in Lakes.

Toi Te Ora said with differences in reporting systems, report timeframes, and as case information was updated there may be some discrepancies in numbers such as with Ministry of Health data.

There are 23,183 new community cases in New Zealand today including 503 in hospital and seven in ICU.

There are 11 cases in BOPDHB hospitals and three in Rotorua Hospital.

There are currently 146,527 active cases of Covid-19 in the country.

Long queues for RATs

Demand for Covid-19 tests has resulted in long queues today.

The queue for RATs tests from 100 First Ave in Tauranga stretches back towards Cameron Rd and around the block.

While it is fast-moving, a reporter estimates upwards of 100 people are in the queue.

Those in the queue are maintaining social distancing and all are wearing masks.

People queued were being asked if they had registered to get a test by a woman in high-vis and if not, people were asked to step out of the queue and do so.

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