The Ministry of Health is reporting 55 community Covid-19 cases, with 53 in Auckland and two in the Waikato.
A total of 72,683 vaccines were administered on Tuesday. Of these, 17,396 were first doses and 55,287 second doses.
The two Waikato cases, who are members of the same household in Hamilton, have not yet been linked to other cases in the current outbreak.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the Government doesn't have confidence it has a full enough picture in Northland yet, and encourages people there to get tested for Covid-19 and vaccinated.
“Based on the latest public health information, ministers have decided that maintaining the status quo in Northland and parts of the Waikato is the safest course of action,” Hipkins said.
“This will be reviewed by Cabinet on Monday, 18 October."
“The Waikato has done a phenomenal job in getting tested and getting vaccinated. However, this morning we were informed of two new cases that are as yet unlinked to the existing cluster," Hipkins said.
“Health believes the risk from these cases – a couple – is low and there will be few locations of interest. However we need to assure ourselves that there is not undetected transmission before lowering alert levels. Genome sequencing is underway and will hopefully shed new light on these cases."
Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the R-value, which measures the virus' ability to spread, is currently 1.2.
Meanwhile Hipkins said the Government is closely looking at Managed Isolation (MIQ) settings given the ongoing Covid-19 delta community outbreak centred on Auckland. He said a move to home isolation is possible for domestic cases.
The Ministry's Wednesday statement is below.
| Cases | |
| Number of new community cases | 55 |
| Number of new cases identified at the border | No cases |
| Location of new community cases | Auckland (53); Waikato (2) |
| Location of community cases (total) | Auckland 1,665 (1,172 of whom have recovered); Waikato 37 (one of whom has recovered); Wellington 17 (all of whom have recovered) |
| Number of community cases (total) | 1,719 (in current community outbreak) |
| Cases infectious in the community | 12 of yesterday’s cases have exposure events (40%) |
| Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious | 31 of yesterday’s cases (60%) |
| Cases epidemiologically linked | 29 of today’s 55 cases |
| Cases to be epidemiologically linked | 26 of today’s 55 cases. Interviews are ongoing to determine how they’re linked |
| Cases epidemiologically linked (total) | 1,612 (in the current cluster) (75 unlinked from the past 14 days) |
| Number of sub-clusters | 16 epidemiologically linked subclusters. Of these, four are active, one is contained and 11 are dormant. There are 14 epidemiologically unlinked subclusters. Of these, four are active, one is contained and nine are dormant. |
| Cases in hospital | 32 (total): North Shore (3); Middlemore (16); Auckland (11); Waikato Hospital (1); Palmerston North Hospital (1) |
| Cases in ICU or HDU | Six |
| Confirmed cases (total) | 4,400 since pandemic began |
| Historical cases, since 1 Jan 2021 (total) | 169 out of 2,585 since 1 Jan 2021 |
| Contacts | |
| Number of active contacts being managed (total): | 2,336 |
| Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements) | 78% |
| Percentage with at least one test result | 77% |
| Locations of interest | |
| Locations of interest (total) | 394 (as at 10am 13 October) |
| Tests | |
| Number of tests (total) | 3,644,954 |
| Number of tests total (last 24 hours) | 25,799 |
| Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours) | 12,965 |
| Tests rolling average (last 7 days) | 22,169 |
| Testing centres in Auckland | 21 |
| Wastewater | |
| Wastewater detections | No unexpected detections in the last 24 hours. |
| COVID-19 vaccine update | |
| Vaccines administered to date (total) | 5,975,273; 1st doses: 3,480,716; 2nd doses: 2,494,557 |
| Vaccines administered yesterday (total) | 72,683; 1st doses: 17,396; 2nd doses: 55,287 |
| Mâori | 1st doses: 353,840; 2nd doses: 224,718 |
| Pacific Peoples | 1st doses: 221,524; 2nd doses: 151,625 |
| Vaccines administered to Auckland residents to date (total) | 2,172,921 1st doses: 1,248,744 (87%); 2nd doses: 924,177 (65%) |
| Vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday (total) | 23,049: 1st doses: 4,427; 2nd doses: 18,622 |
| NZ COVID-19 tracer | |
| Registered users (total) | 3,294,653 |
| Poster scans (total) | 426,284,546 |
| Manual diary entries (total) | 18,143,904 |
| Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday | 2,261,504 |
Dialysis Unit, North Shore Hospital
Following a previously reported exposure event at the Dialysis Unit adjacent to North Shore Hospital, a total of two patients and two staff members have now tested positive for COVID-19.
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.
All appropriate steps are being taken to manage potential risk while maintaining dialysis services to this group of renal patients.
All patients are being screened on arrival at the unit. Full PPE precautions are being taken within the unit, which is being intensively cleaned between each group of patients.
Truck driver
An Auckland-based truck driver who travelled to Northland for work purposes on October 9 has tested positive for COVID-19.
The case is currently being assessed to identify risk and any exposure events.
While the case investigation is still in the early stages initial information suggests a limited scope of exposure in Northland, given Alert Level 3 precautions within the delivery sector.
Advice will be provided to businesses involved, but at this stage, there is no evidence of significant risk to the region from this case. Any locations of interest will be listed on the Ministry of Health website.
Northland testing and vaccination centres
In Northland, 3,905 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were given yesterday - 1,1385 first doses and 2,520 second doses. To date, there have been 113,067 first doses and 82,692 second doses of the vaccine administered in Northland.
For testing, the region saw 1,765 covid tests completed yesterday, taking the total since 6 October to 7,045 tests.
Today there are seven community testing sites and eight community vaccination centres operating.
Community testing is available at:
Kaitaia – Kaitaia Hospital, 29 Redan Road (9am-4pm)
Kerikeri – 1 Sammaree Place (9am-4pm)
Ohaeawai - Ohaeawai Rugby Clubrooms, (10am-5pm)
Whangarei – Rock and Roll car park, Pohe Island (9am–4pm)
Whangarei - Kamo, 20 Winger Crescent (9am –4pm)
Ruakākā - Race Course Peter Snell Road, Ruakākā (10am-3pm)
Dargaville – Dargaville Hospital (9am-4pm)
Community COVID-19 vaccination centres are operating at:
Kaitaia – The Old Warehouse Building, 11 Matthews Ave (10am-5pm)
Kerikeri - 1 Sammaree Place (10am-5pm)
Omapere – Community Clinic (9am-3pm)
Panguru – Roving Van (9.30am-3pm)
Ohaeawai - Ohaeawai Rugby Clubrooms, (10am-5pm)
Moerewa - Rugby Club, Simpson Park (9am-4pm)
Whangarei – Northland Events Centre (8am-7.30pm)
Dargaville - 22a Normanby St (10am-2pm)
Waikato update
There are two new community cases in Waikato today who are members of the same household in Hamilton. They 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.
Vaccination rates in Waikato remained high yesterday with 7,434 people getting a dose. There were 2,980 tests processed in Waikato yesterday.
And here's Hipkins' statement.
The parts of Waikato that have been in Alert Level 3 and Northland will remain in Alert Level 3 for a few more days, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today.
Auckland remains at Alert Level 3, Step 1.
“Based on the latest public health information, ministers have decided that maintaining the status quo in Northland and parts of the Waikato is the safest course of action,” Chris Hipkins said.
“This will be reviewed by Cabinet on Monday, 18 October.
“The Waikato has done a phenomenal job in getting tested and getting vaccinated. However, this morning we were informed of two new cases that are as yet unlinked to the existing cluster.
“Health believes the risk from these cases – a couple – is low and there will be few locations of interest. However we need to assure ourselves that there is not undetected transmission before lowering alert levels. Genome sequencing is underway and will hopefully shed new light on these cases.
“Unfortunately, we still don’t have confidence we have a full enough picture of the situation in Northland.
“Getting information from the two cases who travelled around the region while infectious and are now in quarantine, remains slow going.
“We may not get any further information from contact tracing interviews so are now relying on other sources of information to piece together their movements.
“The best thing people in Northland can do right now is to get tested if they have symptoms of COVID-19, even if these are mild. Over the last week, more than 7000 swabs have been taken. That’s encouraging but to shift alert levels with high confidence we need even more testing over the next 5 days.
“It’s also great to see Northlanders coming out to get vaccinated. There have been 19,691 vaccinations in the past seven days – that’s more than double the previous week.
“It’s really important to keep this going. When we see a high level of testing and vaccination, this gives us more confidence to move down the alert levels.
“Since the start of the Delta outbreak, of 158 people hospitalised, only 3 of those were fully immunised. This is the protection that the vaccine provides, and it is imperative that everyone who is eligible gets vaccinated as soon as possible.
“If you have any contact with any positive cases, visited a location of interest or have any symptoms, get tested as soon as possible,” Chris Hipkins said.
Key points:
- In Alert Level 3, you should stay home. Most people are not permitted to travel. Those who can, must carry evidence that they are permitted to travel.
- You can’t travel into another Alert Level 3 or Alert Level 2 area without evidence of permitted travel across boundaries.
- The north and south Auckland checkpoints remain in place and people need to have evidence of their permitted reason to travel ready to be checked by police. Most people permitted to travel out of the Auckland region will need evidence of a COVID-19 test.
- Police are out in force patrolling the Waikato Alert Level 3 boundary. Those who are permitted must carry evidence that they are permitted to travel.
- At every airport in the Alert Level 3 areas, officials are checking that passengers have evidence of permission to travel. At Auckland Airport, most people who are permitted to travel out of the Auckland will need evidence of having a negative test.
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