ANALYSIS:When a Covid-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa's second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. With a makeshift managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) system using hotels in the country's biggest city, rather than purpose-built facilities, further community cases have been expected. As the UK variant spread, cases rose as winter set in and students returned to education. As New Zealand moves into the cooler weather of autumn and winter, the background R number will creep up. So far we have been somewhat lucky with the community cases detected since the first wave.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 27, 2021 05:45 UTC