IWK

39 Covid 19 community cases in NZ today

Written by IWK Bureau | Dec 18, 2021 12:43:18 AM

New Zealand has recorded another 39 community cases of Covid-19, the Ministry of Health says.

There are also  10 cases in MIQ. There are four new border cases of Omicron, bringing the total in New Zealand to eight. All the cases have been in MIQ.

A boy under the age of 10 became the youngest person with Covid-19 to die in New Zealand, data on the Ministry of Health website revealed yesterday. The data said the child was a Maori boy, registered to the Counties Manukau DHB.

Three new cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant were also reported in New Zealand's managed isolation system, with none of them connected to the first case that was announced on Thursday.

The cases are now isolating at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland while the first case has been transferred to an MIQ facility in Christchurch.

The Ministry said the detection of further Omicron cases was not surprising given its rapid spread around the world.