Wellington, Jan 30 (IANS): New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she was self isolating after being deemed as

as a close contact of a Covid-19 positive person.

The exposure event took place on January 22 during flight NZ8273 from Kerikeri to Auckland, reports Xinhua news agency.

The flight has been added to the Ministry of Health website as a location of interest.

Whole genome sequencing for the case has been requested with an expected result on Sunday, the Ministry said in a statement.

The result is expected to indicate that the case has been infected with the Omicron variant and the public health response reflects this, it added.

The Prime Minister is asymptomatic and is feeling well. In line with the Ministry of Health advice, she will be tested immediately on Sunday and will isolate until Tuesday, according to the statement.

New Zealand's Governor-General Cindy Kiro and members of her staff were also on board, and are following the same isolation instructions.

Ardern and Kiro were in Northland undertaking advance filming at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, at the invitation of the Waitangi National Trust for the Waitangi Day broadcast.

New Zealand reported 97 new community cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the Ministry of Health said.

The country has recorded 16,146 cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, with 52 deaths.

New Zealand is currently at the highest Red settings under the Covid-19 Protection Framework.

At Red settings, face masks are mandatory in many indoor environments, and gatherings are limited to 100 people.