Waikato will move to the same loosened version of Level 3 that Auckland is in, at 11:59pm on Wednesday.
This 'Level 3 Step 1' settings means two households can meet outdoors in groups of less than 10 people.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the Covid-19 cases in Waikato are confined to a "difficult to reach" network of people.
The hard border will remain around Auckland. So, even though Auckland and Waikato are in the same alert level, travel between the regions isn't allowed.
Alert level settings for Auckland and Waikato will be reviewed on Monday. Cabinet will consider whether to keep Auckland at Step 1 or move it to Step 2:
Settings for managed isolation and quarantine are being reviewed. The Government is expected to provide an update on Thursday. Currently, a number of people with Covid-19 are isolating at home, rather than in managed isolation.
Hipkins continued to encourage people to get vaccinated. He said only seven of the people who have ended up in hospital during this Delta outbreak were doubled-vaxxed.
Here are the latest figures from the Ministry of Health:
| Cases | |
| Number of new community cases | 74 |
| Number of new cases identified at the border | Four (one new and three historical cases) |
| Location of new community cases | Auckland (68), Waikato (6) |
| Location of community cases (total) | Auckland 2,710 (1,506 of whom have recovered); Waikato 97 (27 of whom have recovered); Wellington 17 (all of whom have recovered); Northland 7 (all active cases); Nelson/Marlborough 1 (active case) |
| Number of community cases (total) * | 2,832 (in current community outbreak) |
| Cases infectious in the community** | 25 of 74 cases yesterday have exposure events |
| Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious ** | 49 of 74 cases yesterday have no exposure events |
| Cases epidemiologically linked | 43 of today’s 74 cases |
| Cases to be epidemiologically linked | 31 of today’s 74 cases |
| Cases epidemiologically linked (total) | 2,486 (in the current cluster) (269 unlinked from the past 14 days) |
| Cases in hospital | 41 (total, up from 37 yesterday): Waitemata (9); Middlemore (16); Auckland (16) Average age of current hospitalisations: 43 years old |
| Cases in ICU or HDU | Five |
| Confirmed cases (total) * | 5,539 since pandemic began |
| Historical cases | 177 out of 3,725 since 1 Jan 2021 |
| Contacts | |
| Number of active contacts being managed (total): | 2,776 |
| Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements) | 79% |
| Percentage with at least one test result | 76% |
| Locations of interest | |
| Locations of interest (total) | 390 (as at 10am 27 October) |
| Tests | |
| Number of tests (total) | 3,979,577 |
| Number of tests total (last 24 hours) | 17,536 |
| Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours) | 13,578 |
| Tests rolling average (last 7 days) | 23,322 |
| Testing centres in Auckland | 20 |
| Wastewater | |
| Wastewater detections | No unexpected detections |
| COVID-19 vaccine update | |
| Vaccines administered to date (total) | 6,676,800; 1st doses: 3,657,970 (87%); 2nd doses: 3,018,830 (72%) |
| Vaccines administered yesterday (total) | 42,136 1st doses: 10,872; 2nd doses: 31,264 |
| Mâori | 1st doses: 397,304 (70%); 2nd doses: 281,609 (49%) |
| Pacific Peoples | 1st doses: 239,171 (83%); 2nd doses: 186,999 (65%) |
| Vaccines administered to Auckland residents to date (total) | 2,408,739; 1st doses: 1,296,687 (90%); 2nd doses: 1,112,052 (78%) |
| Vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday (total) | 12,639: 1st doses: 2,855; 2nd doses: 9,784 |
| NZ COVID Tracer | |
| Registered users (total) | 3,323,504 |
| Poster scans (total) | 458,315,093 |
| Manual diary entries (total) | 19,029,605 |
| Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday | 2,089,943 |
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