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There are 5656 new cases of Covid-19 in the community to report today, including 1049 in Canterbury areas and two deaths in the region.
In a statement this afternoon, the Ministry of Health said there were 62 new cases detected at the border, including a person who travelled from overseas to New Zealand who has the BA.4 variant of Omicron. This is the first known detection of the variant in the country.
The person arrived from South Africa on April 22, returned a positive RAT the following day and a positive PCR test on April 24.
"Whole genome sequencing was undertaken as part of ongoing border surveillance for emerging variants and subsequently confirmed the BA.4 variant."
The Ministry said the person followed all testing and reporting requirements, allowing this new sub-variant to be identified quickly, and has been isolating at home.
"BA.4 has been reported in Southern Africa and Europe, and a case was reported in New South Wales a few days ago.
"The arrival of this sub-variant in New Zealand is not unexpected. At this stage, the public health settings already in place to manage other Omicron variants are assessed to be appropriate for managing BA.4 and no changes are required."
The BA.4 variant is one of the different Omicron subvariants being monitored by the World Health Organisation.
The Ministry said there was no evidence to date that BA.4 is more transmissible or causes more severe disease than other Omicron lineages.
"In particular the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant that is causing the vast majority of infections in New Zealand. It can take weeks or months to identify the severity of each new variant or sub-variant, so the Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the emerging evidence closely."
Two other sub-variants of Omicron - the BA.2.12.1 and the BA 2.12.2 - have also been detected in two returnees for the first time in New Zealand from travellers arriving on April 11 and 15. Neither sub-variant is currently regarded as being of concern, the Ministry said.
Six deaths
Six deaths being reported today include people who have died over the previous three days.
The total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 is now 750 and the 7-day rolling average of reported deaths is 11.
The latest deaths include two people from Canterbury, one person from Northland, one from Taranaki and two from Waikato.
Three were aged in their 70s and three were in their 80s.
Four were women and two were men.
Hospitalisations
Total number 466: Northland: 29; Waitemata: 75; Counties Manukau: 64; Auckland: 97; Waikato: 37; Bay of Plenty: 19; Lakes: 2; Tairāwhiti: 1; Hawke’s Bay: 11; Taranaki: 7; Whanganui: 3; MidCentral: 5; Wairarapa: 3; Hutt Valley: 6; Capital and Coast: 12; Nelson Marlborough: 6; Canterbury: 60; South Canterbury: 3; West Coast: 1; Southern: 25
There are 16 people in hospital in intensive care or a high-dependency unit.
New community cases
Location of cases (PCR & RAT): Northland (139), Auckland (606), Waikato (341), Bay of Plenty (175), Lakes (116), Hawke’s Bay (149), MidCentral (202), Whanganui (64), Taranaki (149), Tairāwhiti (99), Wairarapa (58), Capital and Coast (360), Hutt Valley (152), Nelson Marlborough (222), Canterbury (931), South Canterbury (118), Southern (625), West Coast (74), Unknown (6)
Today’s seven-day rolling average of case numbers is 7414 - last Sunday it was 8435.
- ODT Online