Covid-19: 35 additional community cases; 3 new cases in managed isolation facilities
Just hours before the Government makes an announcement on the current lockdown, the Ministry of Health has confirmed there are 35 new cases of COVID-19 in the community.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will front a press conference at 4pm to announce any challenges to alert levels. New Zealand is currently in lockdown until 11.59pm tomorrow.
Of the new cases, 33 are in Auckland and two are in Wellington. This brings the total number of cases in the community outbreak to 107 - 99 in Auckland and eight in Wellington.
All of the cases have or are being transferred safely to a managed isolation facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said it is not unexpected to see a rise in daily case numbers at this stage. At its peak last year, New Zealand had a daily total of 89 new cases.
Of the 107 cases in the cluster, 72 are already epidemiologically linked to other community cases identified in the outbreak.
Investigations are continuing to determine whether and how the remaining 35 cases are linked to the outbreak, however, most have a plausible link on initial assessment.
ESR also continues to run whole genome sequencing on cases. Yesterday 29 samples were sequenced and all were confirmed as being linked to the Auckland outbreak.
There are three new cases in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities.
The total number of active cases being managed in New Zealand is currently 154. Since January 1 2021, there have been 123 historical cases, out of a total of 880 cases.
The total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is 2,698.
Wastewater testing
ESR is today collecting wastewater samples from sites throughout New Zealand for testing. There are no new findings to report today.
Yesterday we reported Covid-19 had continued to be detected at Moa Point in Wellington and in the Auckland region, but that samples taken from other sites in Wellington at Porirua, Seaview and Karori and now from the North Shore at Rosedale and Albany, were negative.
Samples taken on Friday and Saturday returned no other unexpected detections anywhere else in the country.
ESR continues to test wastewater at 41 sites across the country, covering 3.7 million New Zealanders. Of the 41 current sites, 13 are in Auckland and four are in Wellington. ESR is in the process of adding additional sites.
Testing
Yesterday, 35,766 tests were processed across New Zealand.
Testing centres in Auckland had another busy day yesterday with just over 17,000 swabs taken across Auckland, with around 11,000 at community testing centres and around 6,000 at general practice and urgent care clinics. This was our biggest day to date at our community testing centres.
If you were at a location of interest, at the specified times, or have cold and flu symptoms, please call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing.
By calling Healthline for advice on testing, people who have been at locations of interest at relevant times are logged into the contact tracing system. This means their swab can be tracked and processed faster by the laboratories.
There are 16 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland this afternoon, including a new site at Pukekohe
More than 3,850 tests were processed yesterday for Wellington and the Hutt Valley with 11 community testing centres operating, and around 32 GPs open for testing.
District Health Boards remain focussed on meeting testing demand and standing up additional testing centres if, and when, needed.
When you go for a test, please wear a mask, scan in to the QR codes located on site and if possible take your NHI number with you. This is likely to speed up the process.
You’ll be able to find your NHI number of a hospital letter, a prescription or prescription receipt. The Ministry has also established a new 0800 number to find out - 0800 855 066.
For up-to-date information on all testing locations, please visit www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/.
The total number of Covid-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,727,853. The seven-day rolling average is 23,721.
