23 new community cases, 7 out of 10 COVID hospitalisations have received vaccine

Today’s update of COVID statistics from the Ministry of Health, 21 January 2022.

71% of COVID hospitalisations are either fully or partially vaccinated, with the fully vaccinated making up the greatest proportion of hospital cases at 53%.

Change to isolation requirements

As part of the response to Omicron, at this stage our public health teams are focussed strongly on stamping out early any Omicron cases in the community.

To help address the increased infectiousness of Omicron, as an interim measure the isolation time for all COVID-19 cases is being extended to 14 days. It was previously ten days.

A similar change Is being applied for close contacts where all close contacts will now isolate for ten days. This was previous seven. These changes take effect from today.

Isolation periods for cases and close contacts remain under review and are planned to change as part of the response to an Omicron community outbreak.

Palmerston North Omicron case update

Whole genome sequencing has confirmed that the case who tested positive in Palmerston North has the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The case became symptomatic on Wednesday and returned a positive COVID-19 test result on Wednesday evening, with WGS confirmed Thursday evening.

The Ministry would like to thank the person for recognising COVID-19 symptoms and getting a test.

Whole genome sequencing has identified similarities to border cases identified in Auckland, but no direct links. It has not identified any links to cases in the Christchurch MIQ facility, suggesting that the source of infection is offshore – either in the country they travelled from or during travel to New Zealand – rather than transmission in the Christchurch MIQ facility where they stayed.

This case was released on 16 January (Sunday), after returning a negative test result on five occasions throughout their stay.

They travelled on flight NZ550 from Christchurch to Auckland departing at 1400 arriving into Auckland at 1520. They then travelled on NZ5121 from Auckland to Palmerston North departing Auckland at 1655. The case is considered to be infectious from Monday 17 January, however if you travelled on either of these flights, as a precautionary measure, you are asked to get a test as soon as possible. If you are displaying symptoms you are asked to get a test and isolate immediately. For further clarification please contact Healthline on 0800 358 5453.

All locations of interest associated with this case are considered to be high risk and anyone who has been at these locations at the times stated are asked to follow the advice on the website, including to isolate and get tested immediately.

One previously published location of interest associated with this case has been amended. The case visited ANZOR Fasteners on 19 January. They did not visit ANZA on this date as previously stated.

Worker at Auckland Airport tests positive for COVID-19:

Today the Ministry of Health is reporting one new possible Omicron case in Auckland. The person works at Auckland Airport and they are not linked to previously reported Auckland Omicron cases.

The worker’s infection was detected in a routine surveillance test taken on 18 January and a positive result was returned yesterday.

Whole genome sequencing is underway to determine the variant, though as a prudent measure, it is being treated as an Omicron case. Investigations are underway to determine the source of infection.

Testing of both household and workplace close contacts is underway. To date, one household member has returned a positive result and one has tested negative.

The case is considered to be infectious from 16 January. Initial locations of interest are expected to be published today.

Our objective for all possible Omicron cases is to stamp out the infection and prevent any onward transmission.

Healthline reminder:

Public health staff are continuing to focus on identifying people who were at the Ara-Tai Café Half Moon Bay

This location of interest is high risk and people who were at Half Moon Bay’s Ara-Tai Café from 12.30 to 2pm on Tuesday (18 January) are being urged to isolate and get tested immediately, and to test again on January 23.

People who visited the café during this time should also contact Healthline on 0800 358 5453 to register at this location or register online at moh.govt.nz

It’s a timely reminder to all potential close contacts of a case to either call Healthline or register their location of interest online on the Ministry of Health locations of Interest page and follow advice from a health professional, as this is advice is specific to an individual and the exposure event.

Hospitalisations:

• Cases in hospital: 18; North Shore: 4; Auckland: 7; Middlemore: 7.
• Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only): Unvaccinated or not eligible (4 cases / 24%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (3 case / 18%); fully vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (9 cases / 53%); unknown (1 case / 6%).
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 55
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 1; Middlemore: 1.

Cases:

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 22
• Seven day rolling average of border cases: 40
• Number of new community cases: 23
• Number of new cases identified at the border: 44
• Location of new community cases: Auckland (11), Waikato (1), Lakes (8), *Hawke’s Bay (2), *Nelson Marlborough (1)
• Number of community cases (total): 11,423 (in current community outbreak)
• Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 8,692
• Number of active cases (total): 488 (cases identified in the past 21 days and not yet classified as recovered)
• Confirmed cases (total): 15,026

COVID numbers and test results are provided in New Zealand by way of the PCR test.