A 56-year old woman has become the centre of a new CCP virus scare for New Zealand, contracting the highly transmissible South African variant of the virus and becoming the country’s first locally transmitted case in over two months. It is believed she became infected while in hotel quarantine, as she recently returned from overseas travel and completed two weeks of managed isolation in the Pullman Hotel in Auckland. “Contact tracing has now found the woman has 15 close contacts … all have been contacted by health officials, are self-isolating, and have been tested,” the Ministry of Health confirmed in a media statement on Jan. 25. Of the 15 close contacts, two have returned negative test results, but the woman had been quite active in her local city of Whangerei in the Northland region of the North Island. Currently, 30 locations, including supermarkets, clothing, and electronic stores, cafes, restaurants, a gallery, …