October 6 2021
There are 39 new cases of Covid-19 in the community and a person in Auckland's Middlemore Hospital dies of the virus, Dr Caroline McElnay says. Thirty of today's cases are in Auckland and nine are in Waikato.
A Rotorua rugby coach has asked students and parents who went on a school team trip to Kawhia at the weekend to stay home after a Covid case was announced in the Waikato settlement.
This morning it was reported a person tested positive for Covid-19 in Kawhia, which is outside the Waikato level 3 boundary.
It is understood the Kawhia case is a close contact of the Hamilton East case.
Rotorua's John Paul College First XV rugby team was in Kawhia for an end-of-season rugby trip over the weekend.
School principal Patrick Walsh said about 20 people went on the trip - including "a number" of adults.
The school group took a charter boat fishing experience on the trip, he said.
They were waiting for the Ministry of Health to get in touch, he said.
In the meantime, the coach had asked students and parents who went on the trip to stay home and comply with health advice until more information was made available.
Ōtorohanga district Kawhia ward councillor Kit Jefferies said there had been two charter boatloads of 16 and 17-year-old boys from Rotorua in Kawhia.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson told the Rotorua Daily Post this evening that investigations into the Kawhia case were ongoing. "Any potential exposure events are being worked through. Please continue to check the Ministry of Health website for any locations of interest."
Public health officials would be contacting anyone identified as a potential contact of the case in Kawhia.
The ministry had no information at this stage about any students of the school testing positive, the spokesperson said this evening.
No locations of interest had been listed for Kawhia as of 6pm.
It's understood there was also a group of about 14 men from Rotorua on a fishing trip in Raglan, over the weekend.
Today there are 39 new community cases made up of 30 infected people in Auckland and nine in the Waikato region.All but one of the new cases are linked to the current outbreak.
A Covid case has also been confirmed in Cambridge. A pop-up testing centre is being arranged at Lake Karapiro.
New Covid exposure events in Raglan announced today included a sushi shop and a laundromat.
Five pop-up testing stations have been operating in the Waikato region over the past few days - in Hamilton, Raglan, Huntly and Tokoroa.
