Ministry confirms no locations of interest after Ruapehu records first Delta case

There are no locations of interest in Taumarunui after the town recorded it's first Delta case. Photo / NZME

A Covid-19 case in the Ruapehu District did not spark any locations of interest or exposure events, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.

The Ruapehu District discovered its first case of Covid-19 since the beginning of the Delta outbreak last week.

There are now a total of three Covid-19 positive patients in the town of Taumarunui, according to the ministry.

The first case was discovered last Wednesday in the Ruapehu town, about an hour south east of Te Kuiti and two hours north of Whanganui.

Since the discovery of the case, no locations of interest have been listed by the Ministry of Health.

A Ministry spokesperson has since confirmed the investigation into the case did not discover any locations of interest that required publication.

"On many occasions public health staff identify exposure sites rather than locations of interest.

"Exposure sites are locations where attendees are well known or have registered their attendance such as a general practice or other locations that require check-ins. We only publish locations of interest where we cannot identify contacts."

So far, the Ruapehu District has largely remained free of the virus.

Last week's case was the first discovered in the district during this outbreak, and only the third of the entire pandemic.

The two previous cases from last year were not residents of the district, having travelled from Auckland to visit Mt Ruapehu in March last year.

The district has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with 67 per cent of its residents fully vaccinated, with a further 9.3 per cent having had one dose.

While the majority of the Ruapehu District including Ohakune and Raetihi fall under the care of Whanganui DHB, the town of Taumarunui is covered by Waikato DHB.

The Waikato DHB has been battling a wider Delta outbreak across the region since the beginning of October. There were nine cases reported in the region on Sunday.