79 community cases of Covid; one border case; 87% of eligible New Zealanders receive one vaccine dose

There are 79 new community cases of COVID-19 to report today.

As at 10am, 46 of these cases are linked - including 24 household contacts - and 33 remain unlinked, with investigations continuing to help determine their connection to the outbreak.

Cases

• Number of new community cases: 79
• Number of new cases identified at the border: One
• Location of new community cases: Auckland (75), Waikato (4)
• Location of community cases (total): Auckland 2,643 (1,506 of whom have recovered); Waikato 91 (25 of whom have recovered); Wellington 17 (all of whom have recovered); Northland seven (active cases); Nelson/Marlborough one (active case)
• Number of community cases (total) *: 2,759 (in current community outbreak)
• Cases infectious in the community**: 42 of yesterday's 109 cases have exposure events
• Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious**: 66 of yesterday's 109 cases
• Cases epidemiologically linked: 46 of today's 79 cases
• Cases to be epidemiologically linked: 33 of today's 79 cases
• Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 2,414 (in the current cluster) (281 unlinked from the past 14 days)
• Cases in hospital: 37 (total, up from 35 yesterday): North Shore (8); Middlemore (12); Auckland (17);
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 45 years old
• Cases in ICU or HDU: Four
• Confirmed cases (total) *: 5,462 since pandemic began
• Historical cases: 174 out of 3,648 since 1 Jan 2021

Contacts

• Number of active contacts being managed (total): 2,700
• Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 78%
• Percentage with at least one test result: 76%

Locations of interest

• Locations of interest (total): 388 (as at 10am 26 October)

Tests

• Number of tests (total): 3,962,042
• Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 14,430
• Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours): 7,771
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 24,578
• Testing centres in Auckland: 18

Wastewater

• Wastewater detections: No unexpected detections

COVID-19 vaccine update

• Vaccines administered to date (total): 6,634,258; 1st doses: 3,646,869 (87%); 2nd doses: 2,987,389 (71%)
• Vaccines administered yesterday (total): 10,660 1st doses: 3,492; 2nd doses: 7,168
• Mâori: 1st doses: 394,513 (69%); 2nd doses: 277,596 (49%)
• Pacific Peoples: 1st doses: 238,227 (83%); 2nd doses: 185,272 (65%)
• Vaccines administered to Auckland residents to date (total): 2,396,115; 1st doses: 1,293,840 (90%); 2nd doses: 1,102,275 (77%)
• Vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday (total): 4,937: 1st doses: 1,410, 2nd doses: 3,527

NZ COVID Tracer

• Registered users (total): 3,321,212
• Poster scans (total): 455,972,632
• Manual diary entries (total): 18,963,899
• Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday: 1,727,625

Today's cases

*Two previously reported cases – one community case and one border case – have been reclassified as "not a case" and a further five border cases have been

**The number of cases here may sometimes differ from those reported the previous day due to a difference in reporting timeframe and reclassifications.

Hospitalisations

There has been a decrease in the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 following a number of discharges over the weekend.

This reflects some instances that individuals were identified as having COVID-19 when presenting for other issues and were admitted for a short period while their other issue was managed or while public health advice was sought about whether they could isolate and be appropriately cared for at home or would need transfer to MIQ.

The average age of hospitalisations in the current outbreak is 45 years, however over the past fortnight the average age of hospitalisations is 38. This reflects a trend of younger hospitalisations overall, with only six percent of the 372 hospital admissions in this outbreak being amongst the 65 and over age group.

Northland update

There are no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to report in Northland, with cases in the region, associated with this outbreak, remaining at seven.

However, people living in Northland are urged to remain vigilant and get tested if they have any symptoms that could be COVID-19.

We also ask that those in the region continue to monitor the Ministry's locations of interest webpage, which is updated regularly, with initial locations in the region already confirmed. Anyone who visited these locations of interest at the specified times is asked to monitor their symptoms for 14 days and if any develop, get tested and stay at home until a negative test result is received and they have been symptom-free for 24 hours.

We would like to remind people that, as standard protocol, locations of interest are deep cleaned to ensure there is no ongoing risk of transmission from the premise. As an additional precaution, we also recommend that everyone wears face coverings in public areas, washes their hands regularly, uses the NZ COVID Tracer app to keep track of everywhere they go, and get vaccinated if they haven't already.

Testing and vaccination clinic locations across the region are available on the Northland DHB website.

The Northland region remains at Alert Level 2

Auckland update

Auckland public health officials continue to urge residents of the North Shore suburbs of Redvale and Rosedale to get tested as soon as possible if they have even mild symptoms of COVID-19, even if they are vaccinated.

This follows high positivity rates of more than 6 percent in Redvale and 3.8 percent in Rosedale.

This testing will help to provide assurance that any undetected spread of COVID-19 in these communities is identified as quickly as possible.

New Lynn and Bayswater are no longer specific areas of concern however residents in these areas are urged to be vigilant for symptoms and get tested no matter how mild.

Community Testing Centres on the North Shore are operating at: 

• North Harbour Stadium, Oteha Valley Road in Carpark B – open 8.30am to 4.30pm  
• Northcote Community Testing Centre, Corner of College Road and Kilham Avenue – open 6.30am to 6.30pm  

Testing is also available at GP and Urgent Care clinics, the locations of these can be found on the Healthpoint website.

Waikato update

The four new cases of COVID-19 in Waikato today were all expected and linked and were in isolation throughout their infectious period.

All new cases are in Te Awamutu/Kihikihi area and isolating currently at home with public health support.

This brings total cases for Waikato during this outbreak to 91, with six cases for which epidemiological links remain under investigation.

Waikato DHB is continuing to carry out testing throughout the region, to help determine any undetected community spread of COVID-19.

Two bakeries have been added as locations of interest in Tokoroa, connected with the person who stayed at a residential address overnight in the town before flying to Blenheim from Rotorua Airport. The DHB has a pop-up testing site open in Tokoroa today through to at least Thursday at the Hospital car park.

Anyone in Waikato - in particular, people in Te Awamutu and Ôtorohanga – is urged to get tested if they have any symptoms that could be COVID-19.

Testing locations can be viewed on the Healthpoint and Waikato DHB websites.

Over the long weekend there were 9,089 tests processed for the Waikato, including 1,951 yesterday. There were 4,160 vaccinations over the same period, including 670 yesterday. Although many vaccination sites were open throughout the weekend, reduced numbers were expected.

Nelson/Marlborough update

Interviews are continuing with the person recently identified in Blenheim who is currently isolating.