Almost three thousand vaccines administered; 27 community cases; 44 in hospital; 5 in ICU

More than 8,189,000 vaccines have now been administered around New Zealand, with almost three thousand doses administered yesterday.

More than 2,200 boosters were administered yesterday. It’s a timely reminder that from this Wednesday, the interval between second doses and boosters reduces from six months to four months.

This means anyone aged 18 and over who had their second vaccination at least four months ago can have their booster dose.

In Auckland the popular Airport Park and Ride drive through vaccination centre has reopened to increase the availability of booster doses and as part of preparations to protect New Zealanders against Omicron.

Located at 42 Verissimo Drive, Māngere, the Park and Ride is operating from 10am-5pm, no appointment needed. It can vaccinate over 4,000 people a day and adds significant surge capacity to the network of general practices, Hauora providers, urgent care clinics and community pharmacies providing vaccinations across Auckland through the holiday period.

We are today reporting 24 cases identified at the border. This number is a reflection on the increase in cases globally and the continued impact of COVID-19 in many parts of the world.

Omicron update

There are no community Omicron cases to report.

There are no new Omicron cases at the border to report.

Testing continues for the contacts of the border-related Omicron case with community exposures, first announced on Wednesday. To date, all test results received from these contacts have been negative.

COVID-19 vaccine update

• Vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people): 3,975,175 first doses (94%); 3,855,391 second doses (92%); 29,198 third primary doses; 329,318 booster doses
• Vaccines administered yesterday: 135 first doses; 622 second doses; 13 third primary doses and 2,220 booster doses.
• Māori (percentage of eligible people): 500,530 first doses (88%); 461,770 second doses (81%)
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people): 271,383 first doses (95%); 259,317 second doses (90%)

Vaccination rates by DHB with active cases (percentage of eligible people)

• Northland DHB: First doses (89%); second doses (84%)
• Auckland Metro DHBs: First doses (96%); second doses (94%)
• Waikato DHB: First doses (94%); second doses (90%)
• Bay of Plenty DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (89%)
• Lakes DHB: First doses (92%); second doses (88%)
• Taranaki DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (89%)
• Tairāwhiti DHB: First doses (91%); second doses (86%)
• Hawke’s Bay DHB: First doses (95%); second doses (91%)
• Canterbury DHB: First doses (98%); second doses (95%)

Hospitalisations

Cases in hospital: 44; North Shore: 6; Auckland: 12; Middlemore: 22; Tauranga: 3 Lakes: 1

Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only): Unvaccinated or not eligible (21 cases / 53.9%); partially immunised

Average age of current hospitalisations: 56

Cases in ICU or HDU: 5 (3 in Middlemore; 2 in Tauranga)

Cases

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 42.1
• Number of new community cases: 27
• Number of new cases identified at the border: 24
• Location of new community cases: Auckland (12), Waikato (7), Bay of Plenty (7), Lakes (1)
• Number of community cases (total): 10,954 (in current community outbreak)
• Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 8,208
• Number of active cases (total): 1,138 (cases identified in the past 21 days and not yet classified as recovered)
• Confirmed cases (total): 13,934

Contacts

• Number of active contacts being managed (total): 5,655
• Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 83%
• Percentage who have returned at least one result: 77%

Tests

• Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 7,696
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 10,988
• Auckland tests total (last 24 hours): 2,765

Wastewater

No unexpected detections

NZ COVID Tracer

Poster scans in the 24 hours to midday yesterday: 1,596,303

Manual diary entries in the 24 hours to midday: 34,126

My Vaccine Pass

• My vaccine pass downloads total: 4,625,517
• My vaccine pass downloads (last 24 hours): 6,279

Today’s cases

Today, we are reporting new community cases in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Lakes.

Regional updates

We are continuing to ask anyone in New Zealand with symptoms – no matter how mild – to get tested, even if you’re vaccinated. Please stay at home until you return a negative test result.

Testing and vaccination centre locations nationwide can be found on the Healthpoint website.

Auckland

There are 12 new cases being reported in Auckland today.

Health and welfare providers are now supporting 1,295 people to isolate at home, including 367 cases.

Waikato

There are seven new cases in Waikato today – two are in Whitianga/Matarangi, one in Te Kuiti, one in Te Awamutu, one in Waihi, one with location data to be confirmed, and one initially reported as Papamoa.

Six have been linked to previous cases and one remains under investigation.

For details of dedicated testing sites operating over the holiday period, please visit the dedicated DHB page or DHB Facebook page.

Public Health staff in the region are supporting 60 cases to isolate at home.

Bay of Plenty

There are seven new cases in the Bay of Plenty.

Four of these cases are in Tauranga, two cases are in Western Bay of Plenty and one case in the Whakatāne District.

Six cases are contacts of previously notified cases, with the remaining still being investigated for potential links.

Lakes

There is one new case in Rotorua, which is still being investigated for potential links.

Media releases over the Christmas break

Over the Christmas break there will be regular COVID-19 updates published and tweeted each day apart from:

• Saturday 8 January.