Today we are reporting 6,407 community cases, 368 hospitalisations and 2 deaths. Today’s seven-day rolling average of community case numbers is 7,479 – last Monday, it was 7,553.
Omicron BA.5 variant update A further two people who have travelled from overseas to New Zealand have been confirmed as having the BA.5 variant of Omicron.
Both people travelled to New Zealand and subsequently returned a positive RAT and PCR results. Whole genome sequencing subsequently confirmed the BA.5 variant.
Following the first BA.5 case reported on Sunday, there are now three people who are confirmed to have the variant, all of whom travelled from South Africa.