Covid-19: 82 new cases in the community, total now 429
There are 82 new Covid-19 community cases, and one in managed isolation, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
There was no 1pm media conference from the government today. Instead, the Ministry said in a statement that there were now 429 cases linked to the Auckland Delta outbreak - 415 in Auckland and 14 in Wellington.
Of these 82 new cases, 62 are Pacific peoples, five are Asian, four are European, two are Māori, one is Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and the ethnicity of eight is unknown.
"All of the cases have or are being transferred safely to a quarantine facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE," the Ministry said.
Of the current community cases, 25 cases are in hospital – 23 are in a stable condition on a ward and two cases are in a stable condition in ICU.
One case is in North Shore Hospital, 11 are in Middlemore Hospital, 12 are in Auckland City Hospital, and one is in Wellington Regional Hospital.
There are 376 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically-linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 53 for which links are yet to be fully established.
There are currently seven epidemiologically-linked subclusters identified within this outbreak. The two largest clusters are the Birkdale Social Network cluster associated with Case A (64 confirmed cases), and the Mangere church cluster (197 confirmed cases).
"There are appropriate isolation and infection prevention and control plans in place at all hospitals where these patients are being managed," the Ministry said.
Since January 1 2021, there have been 124 historical cases, out of a total of 1,205 cases. The total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is 3,023.
Testing
The Ministry says testing remains an essential part of the country's response to this outbreak, in particular confidence in understanding the extent of any spread of Covid-19.
"Our advice remains the same - wherever you are in the country, 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," it said.
By calling Healthline, 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.
Yesterday, 36,418 tests were processed across New Zealand.
Centres in Auckland had another busy day yesterday with around 14,500 swabs taken across Tāmaki Makaurau, with 9,000 at community testing centres and a further 5,500 at general practice and urgent care clinics.
There are 27 community testing centres available across Auckland today – six regular community testing centres and 16 pop-up testing centres, including three new pop-up sites opening today at Ranui, Parakai and Alfriston. There are also five invitation-only sites open for high-risk groups and to prioritise essential health care workers.
Testing centres in Auckland are reporting little or no wait times for testing and all DHBs are ensuring there is good access to testing across the regions.
"Several Auckland testing centres are reporting that some people are seeking their Day 12 test early," the Ministry said. "It is vital that everyone gets tested on the day they are asked to be tested on."
The total number of Covid-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,928,155. The seven-day rolling average is 39,208.
