Today there are 19 new community cases of Covid-19 to report and 43 cases have been detected at the border.
The border cases were a jump from the 23 cases yesterday. While whole genome sequencing of these cases is expected soon, the likelihood is that Omicron will continue to be the most prevalent variant at our borders.
Changes to pre-departure testing
From tomorrow pre-departure testing requirements for entry into New Zealand will change with a requirement for a PCR test from within 72 hours to within 48 hours of departure.
A temporary exemption has also been granted by the Acting Director General of Health. This means travellers coming from 105 specified countries and jurisdictions where obtaining a PCR test may be difficult or not possible, can instead provide evidence of a negative rapid antigen test (RAT) or loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) test result.
This will need to be taken within 24 hours of departure and all tests must be supervised by a health professional, which includes pharmacists, and verified in writing in the jurisdiction of origin.
The places which are exempt from the requirement for a PCR test within 48 hours of departure, and for which a RAT or LAMP test is allowed as an alternative to a PCR test are available on the Unite Against Covid-19 website. The changes to pre-departure testing were announced by Government last year.
Today's cases
The 19 community cases being reported today are in Auckland (6), Waikato (5), Bay of Plenty (5), Northland (1), Taranaki (2).
There are 38 people with the virus in hospital and of these four are in ICU or HDU.
Yesterday 1307 first doses of the vaccine were administered, as were 4601 second doses; 599 third primary doses and 41,165 booster doses.
The jump in booster shots was of course expected as those who’d had their second vaccine four months ago became eligible for a booster shot from yesterday. There were also more than twice as many My Vaccine passes downloaded in the last 24 hours than the previous day (17,609 total).
