Wednesday January 19

There are 24 new community cases of Covid-19 today.

Of these, 14 are in Auckland, 1 is in Northland, 1 in Waikato, 5 are in Lakes, 1 in Bay of Plenty, 1 in Hawke's Bay and 1 in Hutt Valley.

There is also 1 new case in Canterbury. The Ministry of Health was notified after its daily reporting cut-off time and this case will be in tomorrow's official numbers. 

There are 24 people in hospital, with two of those people in the intensive care or high dependency units.

The average age of people currently in hospital is 57.

There are 56 new cases at the border.

95 percent of New Zealand's eligible population have had the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and 93 percent have had a second dose.

Yesterday, 38,606 boosters were administered. The total amount of boosters administered is 828,215, which is 51 percent of those who are now eligible for a booster shot.

Child vaccine rollout

Yesterday 13,028 vaccine doses were administered to 5 to 11-year-olds throughout New Zealand.

Nearly 30,000 children in this age group in New Zealand now have greater protection against COVID-19.

There are more than 500 sites around New Zealand administering vaccines to this age group, check here for an updating list. 

Update on MIQ Worker in Auckland

The border 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.

79 of the 84 identified close contacts have returned negative test results, and one household contact has returned a positive result, reported yesterday. The number of contacts can fluctuate as further investigation rules them out.

There have been a total 4,831,138 vaccine pass downloads to date. There were 13,709 in the last 24 hours. 

Auckland airport worker tests positive for Covid-19

The airport worker, who is double vaccinated and has had a booster dose, tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday. 

Whole genome sequencing for this case will be returned today. The case is currently being managed as an Omicron case.

This person was infectious from January 15 but they were not at work while infectious.

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

Click here for a list of updated locations of interest.

Check the Healthpoint website here for vaccine centre locations. 

Photo: Sipa USA / Alamy Stock Photo

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