There are 79 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today.
Photo: NOBEASTSOFIERCE/Science Photo Library via AFP
Of the new cases, 75 are in Auckland and four are in Waikato. Of these cases 46 are linked, including 24 household contacts, and 33 remain unlinked.
There is also one new case at the border.
There are no new cases reported in Northland. The number of cases from Northland associated with the current outbreak remains at seven.
In Auckland, there are a total of 2643 cases related to the current outbreak (1506 have recovered), in Waikato there are 91 (25 have recovered) and in Wellington there are 17 (all have recovered). In the Nelson/Marlborough area there is one active case.
The ministry said Auckland public health officials were continuing to urge residents of the North Shore suburbs of Redvale and Rosedale to get tested as soon as possible if they have even mild symptoms of Covid-19, even if they have been vaccinated.
"This follows high positivity rates of more than 6 percent in Redvale and 3.8 percent in Rosedale."
The ministry said the new cases in Waikato today were all expected and linked, and were in isolation throughout their infectious period.
"All new cases are in Te Awamutu/Kihikihi area and isolating currently at home with public health support."
In the Nelson/Marlborough area, interviews are continuing with the person recently identified in Blenheim who is currently isolating, the ministry said.
"The person's three close contacts, including two house household contacts, are due for further testing this week, following their initial negative test results over the weekend.
It is important to reiterate at this stage there have been no further Covid-19 cases reported in the region."
The total number of community cases in the current outbreak is 2759.
There are 5462 confirmed cases in total since pandemic began.
There was no 1pm conference today, and the Ministry of Health released information in a statement. There will be a 4pm press conference today.
There are 37 people in hospital - eight in North Shore, 17 in Auckland and 12 in Middlemore. The average age current hospitalisations is 45 years old. There are also four cases in ICU or HDU.
"There has been a decrease in hospitalisation from Covid-19 following a number of discharges over the weekend," the ministry said.
"This reflects some instances where individuals were identified as having Covid-19 when presenting for other issues and were admitted for a short period while their other issues were managed.
"The average age of hospitalisations in the current outbreak is 45 years, however over the past fortnight the average age of hospitalisations is 38. This reflects a trend of younger hospitalisations overall, with only 6 percent of the 372 hospital admissions in this outbreak being amongst the 65 and over age group."
In the last 24 hours, 14,430 tests have been processed.
The ministry said there are now 388 locations of interest.
There have been no unexpected wastewater detections.
There were 109 cases announced yesterday, with 103 of those in Auckland.
The ministry said 42 of yesterday's 109 cases have exposure events.
Vaccine update
In Auckland, 1,293,840 first doses have been administered to date (90 percent) and 1,102,275 second doses (77 percent).
To date, 394,513 first doses (69 percent) have been administered to Māori and 277,596 second doses (49 percent).
For Pacific people, 238,227 first doses have been given (83 percent) and 185,272 second doses (65 percent).
In total, 6,634,258 vaccines have been administered to date in the country - 3,646,869 first doses (87 percent) and 2,987,389 second doses (71 percent).