A prison officer at the Sping Hill Corrections Facility in Hampton Downs, north Waikato has tested positive for Covid-19.
The Corrections worker, who was full vaccinated against the virus, was tested for Covid-19 after visiting a location of interest.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield told media the officer was asymptomatic.
Both inmates and other Corrections staff are now isolating and getting tested after the Department of Corrections were notified last night.
There are 23 officers and 123 inmates from the block at Spring Hill that have been identified as close contacts to the positive case.
"We're also looking at whether there may be a role for testing of the wastewater there to get a sense of whether there is any Covid-19 detected," Bloomfield said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted that the prison was following vigorous Covid-19 protocols under Alert Level 4, with all close contacts of the case linked to the prison able to be contacted.
"Ultimately the ones that we're worried about are the individuals in that workplace who have had contact with that staff member," she said.
The news comes as 49 new cases of the Delta variant were detected in the community, Bloomfield announced Tuesday.
Of these, 33 are in hospital, eight of which are in intensive care or high dependency units and two are ventilated.
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