New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will go into home isolation after partner Clarke Gayford tested positive for Covid-19.
Ardern broke the news on social media on Sunday morning with a post of a card her daughter Neve had made for Mother’s Day.
She said Gayford “woke up feeling a bit average and has tested positive … so we have 7 days of family time ahead of us!”
She said she and daughter Neve are “fine”.
“I’ll be working from home so anyone who watches question time, or is attending my Business NZ speech on Wednesday, you’ll still see me remotely.”
Neve’s card read “Yay! It is Mother’s Day. I love fishy kisses. I love you like hot lava!”
Meanwhile, a person who travelled from South Africa to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the BA.5 variant of Omicron. The ministry says this the first known detection of the variant in the country.
The person travelled to New Zealand on April 26.
Whole genome sequencing confirmed the BA.5 variant.
“The person followed all testing and reporting requirements, allowing this new sub-variant to be identified quickly, and has now completed their isolation at home,” the ministry said.
This follows the detection of BA.4 in a person who also travelled from South Africa.
The ministry says the arrival of BA.5 is not unexpected and no health setting changes would be required.
“At this stage, the public health settings already in place to manage other Omicron variants are assessed to be appropriate for managing both BA.4 and BA.5.”
The ministry would continue to monitor the emergence of sub-variants closely, they said.
“It can take weeks or months to assess the severity of each new variant or sub-variant, so the Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the emerging evidence closely.”
The Telegraph reports that South Africa’s Covid cases are beginning to soar again because of BA.4 and BA.5, according to scientists.
In the past two weeks, South Africa’s daily new cases have gone up sixfold to almost 10,000 a day, with one in every four tests coming back positive. This means the country is now staring down the barrel of a fifth wave.