The number of cases in Nelson has increased sharply over the past 48 hours with over 50 cases testing positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, 16 February.
Nelson Marlborough Health medical officer of health, Dr Stephen Bridgman, says the high positive testing rate indicates undetected community transmission.
“Case numbers are expected to continue to climb. We have seen from other countries that Omicron hits hard and fast. In Phase Two we are looking to minimise the spread to protect our vulnerable communities and our health services from becoming overwhelmed," he says.
“The Nelson Marlborough community has done a good job of holding off Omicron for as long as possible. We are seeing a large increase in case numbers which signals undetected transmission in Nelson. We are seeing a small numbers of cases in Marlborough.
“This is not unexpected with Omicron present throughout New Zealand.
The Ministry of Health today announced 49 confirmed cases in the Nelson Marlborough region - their numbers differ from NMH's due to cut-off times for testing.
NMH says that with the large jump in case numbers, they will now be shifting to align with the MOH case numbers.
The numbers jumped largely from Wednesday's announcement of 15 cases and comes as 1573 cases are announced across the country today.
Nayland College, Victory Primary School, Nayland Primary School and St Joseph's School all have students in self-isolation.
Victory Primary School have placed another two classrooms into self-isolation today, adding to the three already isolating from Wednesday.
Nayland College informed parents on Thursday that a second case of Covid-19 had been confirmed in the school.
The second case is a household contact of the first case, and had attended school for a short time while infectious.
