Covid-19 was detected in Huntly's wastewater despite no known case in town. Photo / New Zealand Herald photograph by Doug Sherring
Covid-19 was detected in Huntly's wastewater despite no known case in town. Photo / New Zealand Herald photograph by Doug Sherring
Covid-19 has been detected in Huntly's wastewater and the virus also spread to Ngāruawāhia with one case confirmed last night.
The Health Ministry confirmed that Covid-19 was detected in Huntly wastewater yesterday, despite no known cases in the town.
Pop-up testing sites were set up this morning at Te Whare Oranga at 147 Harris St, Huntly and on Huntly Domain in Wight St. Health officials are asking residents with symptoms to get tested, no matter how mild the symptoms may be.
The Ministry of Health said the advice is the same even if people are vaccinated.
Nga-Miro Health-Centre confirmed the Ngāruawāhia case last night on social media. A testing station has been set up at Ngāruawāhia Panthers Rugby League grounds on Whatawhata Ave and was open as of 10am today.
It is understood the person was a contact of a Hamilton case and SuperValue Ngāruawāhia, at 150 Great South Rd, has been announced as one of the locations of interest after a positive case visited the shop between 5.30pm and 7.40pm on Saturday.
More locations of interest will be announced in the coming days. The post confirming the case advised whānau to get tested and vaccinated if they haven't already.
"We also encourage whānau to restrict their movements and stay home to contain the spread in our community. Be vigilant about wearing a mask if you need to leave your home."
The surprise wastewater detection in Huntly and the Ngaruawahia case come as New Zealand recorded 162 new community cases today, four of them in Waikato.
This brings Waikato's total number of active cases to 77, while 46 cases have already recovered. Of those active cases, 37 cases are in Te Awamutu/Kihikihi, 26 in Hamilton, nine in Ōtorohanga, two in Kawhia, one in Cambridge/Karapiro, one in Whatawhata, and none in Raglan.
There were 1870 tests processed throughout Waikato yesterday.
The NZ Herald reported that Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter already confirmed this morning that there are two more people with Covid-19 in the town.
The two latest Ōtorohanga cases were both expected and linked to people in the existing outbreak that has hit the King Country. Baxter said they were both isolating.
A Te Awamutu resident also tested positive for the virus and then left their house after being told they had Covid-19.
The Waikato DHB confirmed the Te Awamutu local went out visiting after receiving a phone call telling them they had tested positive for Covid.
The DHB is now supporting the people at that second household visited just over a week ago, while the visitor was potentially infectious.
A DHB spokesman said the person was notified by phone that they had tested positive for Covid, but at that stage had not had any discussions with public health officials about where they should isolate.
The resident is now isolated in the Hamilton Community Isolation Quarantine facility based at the Distinction Hotel in Te Rapa.
As of today, 564,088 Covid-19 vaccinations have been delivered at vaccination sites in the Waikato, 308,303 were first doses and 255,785 second doses. This means, 70.4 per cent of Waikato's eligible population are fully vaccinated.
Over the weekend, Waipa District hit the 90 per cent milestone of first doses, meaning 90.3 per cent of the district's eligible population received one dose of the vaccine while 74.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Hamilton is close to hit that 90 per cent target of first vaccinations as well with 89.3 per cent having received one dose and 74.6 per cent fully vaccinated.
Ruapehu, South Waikato and Otorohanga District are still Waikato's least vaccinated areas with a vaccination rate of 57.8 per cent in Ruapehu, 58.4 per cent in South Waikato and 58.6 per cent in Otorohanga.
Meanwhile, 75.1 per cent of the whole country is fully vaccinated. New Zealand's most vaccinated area is still Queenstown-Lakes District with 84.4 per cent fully vaccinated and only 2.3 per cent unvaccinated.
Nationally, Hamilton is on place nine. The country's least vaccinated area is also still Kawerau with 52.4 per cent fully vaccinated and 30.3 per cent still unvaccinated.
