Covid live: Italy reports highest daily cases since March; Canada’s Omicron cases ‘could overwhelm Ontario ICUs’

Italy reports 26,109 new cases, its highest daily number since 12 March; experts warn Ontario hospitals could be overwhelmed

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New Zealand has detected its first case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in a Christchurch managed isolation facility.

On Thursday afternoon, the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said:

This is a person who is in managed isolation in Christchurch. The person arrived in New Zealand on a flight from Germany via Dubai that landed in Auckland...the people on that flight were transferred to Christchurch on a chartered domestic flight trip with all our usual protocols.

We fully expected we will find a case of Omicron and in fact, we are treating every border related case as if it were Omicron until proven otherwise. We have good protocols in place that are designed to stop the virus getting across the border."