There have been 7930 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the community today and 19 new deaths, including two under 9 years old.

The Ministry also revealed that a person who has travelled from overseas to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the XE variant of Omicron. This is the first known detection of the variant in New Zealand.

The person arrived on 19 April, was tested on 20 April and whole genome sequencing subsequently confirmed the XE variant. They are isolating at home.

In today's statement, the Ministry of Health said there were 494 people in hospital and 15 in ICU.

Today's deaths include two people were aged under 9; one person was in their 20s; four in their 60s; two in their 70s; five in their 80s and five people were over 90.

One person was from Northland; six from the Auckland region; two from Waikato; one from Bay of Plenty; one from Whanganui; one from Taranaki; one from the

Wellington region; one from Nelson-Marlborough; four from the Canterbury region and one from Southern.

Yesterday, there were 9390 new cases and 13 deaths reported in Aotearoa.

• Tags: Covid-19

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