There have been 55 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today.
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Figures supplied by the Ministry of Health show 53 of those are in Auckland and two in Waikato. There are no new cases at the border.
Of today's new community cases, 29 are epidemiologically linked and 26 are yet to be linked.
There are 75 unlinked cases from the past 14 days. Of yesterday's 43 cases, 10 are yet to be linked.
The total number of cases in this outbreak is 1719.
There are 32 people in hospital including six in ICU or HDU. One is being ventilated.
Speaking at today's government briefing, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the two new community cases in Waikato today are members of the same household in Hamilton, and are being transferred today to a local quarantine facility.
"At this stage, the cases are unlinked but interviews will be carried out today to help determine any links to known cases. Two workplace exposure events have been identified but Hamilton residents are encouraged to please keep checking the Ministry's website for any locations of interest."
He said vaccination rates in Waikato remained high yesterday, with 7434 people getting a dose.
Dr Bloomfield said the ministry had been advised that the Auckland cases included a teacher in an Auckland early learning service centre
This person has had one dose of the vaccine and "their infectious period has been assessed as commencing on 8 October".
"At this stage, there are 11 close contacts including six children who are in two separate bubbles of three each who were being supervised by that person. All contacts have been identified.
"So this is an exposure event rather than a location of interest and the early learning service centre therefore won't be listed on our website as a location of interest."
There are 16 epidemiologically linked subclusters. Of these, four are active, one is contained and 11 are dormant. There are also 14 unlinked subclusters. Of these, four are active, one is contained and nine are dormant.
Dr Bloomfield said a total of two patients and two staff members at the Dialysis Unit adjacent to North Shore Hospital have now tested positive for Covid-19 after a previously reported exposure event.
"Staff are also undergoing rapid antigen testing before the start of each shift, with all results this morning again negative.
"A number of staff in the unit are considered close contacts and have been stood down as a precaution."
Staff there are now undergoing rapid antigen testing before the start of each shift, Dr Bloomfield said.
There have been no detections of Covid-19 in wastewater sampling in the past 24 hours.
The number of active contacts being managed is 2336.
A total of 25,799 tests were taken in the past 24 hours. Since the start of the outbreak, labs across the country have processed almost 1.1. million tests.
There were 17,396 first doses of vaccine administered yesterday and 55,287 second doses.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins also told Checkpoint the government was on the cusp of allowing low-risk Covid-positive people to self-isolate at home as case numbers continue to climb.
Hipkins said case numbers were difficult to predict but were certainly on the rise.
He said six million doses of the vaccine have now been delivered across New Zealand.
"Of the eligible population, 75 percent have either been fully vaccinated or are booked in for the second dose to get fully vaccinated."
Dr Bloomfield said My Covid Record is now accessible to the public via mycovidrecord.nz.
People over 16 years will be able to view their vaccination record on this website by creating a my health account.
"From later November people will be able to access two different types of vaccination certificates: one for use in New Zealand and one for travel overseas."
Dr Bloomfield said people can also request the Ministry of Health for their vaccination status.