Today we are reporting 7,930 community cases, 494 hospitalisations and 19 deaths. Today’s seven-day rolling average is 8,475, while the seven-day rolling average of cases as at last Saturday was 8,283.
Border case with Omicron XE variant A person who has travelled from overseas to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the XE variant of Omicron.
This is the first known detection of the variant in New Zealand The person arrived on 19 April, was tested on 20 April and whole genome sequencing subsequently confirmed the XE variant.
They are isolating at home. XE has been spreading overseas and its arrival 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 XE and no changes are required.