1.5pc of travellers entering NZ have Omicron

Just 1.47 per cent of travellers have tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19 since December 1, according to theMinistry of Health. Out of about 18,000 travellers processed through managed isolation and quarantine, there have been 266 cases of Omicron confirmed. That means one out of every 66 travellers, or thereabouts, has the Omicron variant. Professor Michael Plank, from the University of Canterbury’s school of mathematics and statistics and a principal investigator at Te Pu¯naha Matatini, said hewas ‘‘surprised’’ the number wasn’t higher. ‘‘Cases at the border have really ramped up in recent weeks, so I expect if you looked at howmany cases there had been after Christmas the percentage would be different.’’ One reason the number of confirmed Omicron casesmight not be higherwas because many could still be in the process of whole genome sequencing, Plank said.