There are 49 new Covid-19 cases in the community today , down from 53 yesterday.
Today's new case total is the lowest in six days.
All of the new cases are in Auckland and they have or will be transferred safely to a quarantine facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE, the Ministry of Health said.
The total number of cases in this Delta outbreak is now 611, including six people who are under one-year-old.
Of the total cases in the outbreak, 597 are in Auckland and 15 in Wellington.
"There are 566 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically-linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 46 for which links are yet to be fully established," the ministry said.
"There are currently seven epidemiologically-linked subclusters identified within this outbreak. The two largest clusters are the Māngere church cluster (308 confirmed cases), and the Birkdale Social Network cluster associated with Case A (78 confirmed cases)."
The update was provided as areas outside Auckland and Northland prepare for an alert level drop tonight.
As of 9am today, 34,413 contacts had been identified and around 89 per cent had been tested for Covid-19.
There are currently 33 cases in hospital, eight of which are in intensive care or a high dependency unit, including two who are on ventilators.
Two cases are in North Shore Hospital, 18 are in Middlemore Hospital, 12 are in Auckland City Hospital, and one is in Wellington Regional Hospital.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health confirmed a hospital security guard has been confirmed with the virus.
"A contract security officer on duty at Middlemore Hospital on 26 August has tested positive for Covid-19 after exposure in the community," the ministry said in a statement.
"The individual is fully vaccinated and while on duty at Middlemore was wearing full PPE, including a N95 mask. The risk of exposure to patients and staff is considered to be low."
To date no staff at Counties Manukau Health have contracted Covid-19 while at work.
Yesterday, 16,755 tests were processed across New Zealand, including 12,700 in Auckland.
Since the pandemic began there has been 2.89 million tests for Covid-19 processed in New Zealand.
“This ongoing high rate of testing is important for us maintaining confidence that we are finding any cases of Covid-19 out there,” Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said.
“So just to reiterate, if you have symptoms, anywhere in New Zealand, get a test. And of course, if you have been at a location of interest it’s very important that you isolate within your bubble and get a test.”
There are now 389 locations of interest on the Ministry of Health's website .
“Based on our updated modelling, the reproduction rate of the virus in this outbreak is now looking like it is remaining under one, which means cases will continue to decline and we are successfully breaking chains of transmission,” Bloomfield said.
Today's update comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday announced Auckland will stay in full lockdown at Alert Level 4 for at least another two weeks, while it is intended Northland will move to Alert Level 3 on Thursday evening at 11.59pm.
In addition to today's community cases there is one new border case to report, meaning there are now 651 active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand.
The border case arrived from Nepal via the United Arab Emirates last Wednesday (on August 25) and tested positive on arrival in Christchurch.
The total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began is 3213.
There are no unexpected results to report from wastewater testing today.
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