24 new Covid-19 cases in Delta outbreak

October 5, 2021

There are 24 new Covid-19 cases in the community on Tuesday, of which 18 are in Auckland and six in Waikato, Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay has confirmed.

One of the new community cases, one is a historical case.

Three of the new Waikato cases were made public on Monday, but are in Tuesday's official tally, McElnay added.

Of Tuesday's 24 new cases, 17 are linked and the remaining seven are under investigation to find a link to the current Delta outbreak.

All of the Waikato cases are linked, though.

The total number of cases in this Delta outbreak is now 1381, of which 1086 have since recovered.

There are now 32 people in hospital in New Zealand with Covid-19, including seven in intensive care or a high dependency unit. There are 14 cases at Middlemore Hospital, 13 at Auckland City Hospital, four at North Shore Hospital and one at Waikato Hospital.

Three of the Waikato cases were revealed yesterday, but are included in today’s total.

"Looking ahead, we estimate from the number of already notified cases and their contacts, we would expect an additional 48 cases to come through in the coming days amongst those contacts," McElnay said.

There are now 1262 contacts linked to this outbreak, of which 83 per cent have been contacted and 74 per cent have received at least one test.

There are 150 locations of interest on the Ministry of Health's website , including nine new locations on Tuesday.

"Locations of interest associated with Waikato sites will continue to be added to the Ministry of Health’s website as soon as possible," the Ministry of Health said.

"Waikato DHB has not identified any locations of interest of significance in Hamilton at this stage. All potential exposure events have been direct interactions between individuals which have been followed up with directly.

"The DHB has informed us that indications so far are that prior to receiving positive tests, the households affected had been following guidance on mask wearing and social distancing."

Meanwhile, anyone in eight Auckland suburbs - Clover Park, Mângere, Favona, Manurewa, Mount Wellington/Sylvia Park, Henderson, Papakura and the newly added Red Beach - has been asked to get tested regardless if they have Covid-19 symptoms or not.

"The two best tools we have in the fight against Covid-19 are testing and vaccinations, and the numbers for both continue to be steady," McElnay said.

On Monday, 14,905 tests for Covid-19 were processed throughout the country, including 12,595 from Auckland.

In total there has been more than 3.46 million tests for the virus processed since the pandemic began.

On vaccinations, 55,673 doses were administered on Monday, made up of 14,846 first doses and 40,827 second doses.
More than 5.4 million doses have been administered in New Zealand to date.

There were two new Covid-19 cases found at the border on Tuesday, including one historical case.

One of the new cases arrived from the Philippines via Singapore on September 25. They tested positive on day eight in Auckland.

The historical case arrived from Russia via the United Arab Emirates also on September 25. They tested positive on day three in Auckland.

The new cases bring the total in New Zealand since the pandemic began to 4050.

In an update of the Naumi Hotel worker who tested positive for Covid-19, the ministry confirmed their illness is linked to two recent returnees and is therefore classed as a border case.

"There is an ongoing investigation into potential in-facility transmission including reviewing CCTV footage," the ministry said.

As well, whole genome sequencing for the Auckland-based truck driver who drove to Palmerston North and tested positive for Covid-19 has been completed, confirming the case is linked to one of the sub clusters in Auckland.

There were no unexpected Covid-19 detections in wastewater samples to report on Tuesday.

Tuesday's update comes as Auckland remains at Alert Level 3, but with an easing of some restrictions at 11.59pm.

The rest of the country, bar some parts of Waikato at Level 3, remains at Level 2.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined McElnay for the update.

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