Jacinda Ardern is urging those who live on the North Shore in Auckland and are symptomatic, to be tested for Covid-19 after she revealed on Tuesday the area had “many testing positive”.
It comes as 87 cases for Auckland were announced and another seven cases were recorded in the Waikato overnight.
The Prime Minister said the Delta variant had spread across 124 suburbs in Auckland and many people were testing positive on the North Shore.
“This morning in our briefing, a particular focus from our public health team, was on the fact that they have a high positivity rate, so the amount of testing relative to the number of positives coming back that is of concern to them that are on the North Shore,” she said.
Ardern urged those living on the North Shore to be tested if symptomatic, even if they had been vaccinated.
She added that the highest number of cases today are 39-years and under – those in the least vaccinated age range.
“We need everyone who can be, to be vaccinated. If you are young, you are sadly not invincible, 12 of our current hospitalisations are under 39-years of age,” she says.
It comes as 158,522 eligible Aucklanders have not had a first dose of the vaccine. Ardern said it “is within this group that the virus has the potential to spread and who we really need to ensure are vaccinated so that we can ease restrictions with low case numbers”.
Ardern urged those who had their first dose of the vaccine three weeks ago, to get their second dose as soon as possible.
“The quicker we can get people fully vaccinated, the greater community protection we have against the virus.”
Ardern sympathised with Aucklanders, saying the “highs and lows of cases is incredibly hard on people, particularly those in Tāmaki Makaurau.”
She said despite Auckland not moving to a level 4 lockdown, Tuesday’s cases were also a result of non-compliance.
Ardern urged people to follow the rules, saying “none of us are powerless”.
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