More than 18,000 vaccine doses administered yesterday; 173 cases; 78 people in hospital - 7 people in ICU

There were 18,092 first and second vaccine doses administered yesterday, made up of 6,319 first doses and 11,773 second doses. To date, 92% of eligible people in New Zealand have had their first dose and 85% are fully vaccinated.

The Ministry of Health has now issued more than two million My Vaccine Passes. More than half of all vaccinated New Zealanders now have their pass and we wish to thank everyone who has already got theirs for their efforts.

We expect demand for My Vaccine Passes to keep increasing and we realise the importance of improving access to the pass for all New Zealanders.

From today, there is now the option to receive your pass through the post and people will also be able to go to pharmacies to request their pass.

Almost 400 pharmacies around the country currently providing COVID-19 vaccinations will now also be able to help people get their vaccine pass. Those 400 pharmacies can be found on the Healthpoint website.

There has been an unprecedented number of people calling the 0800 222 478 number to get their pass, check their NHI number or set up their My COVID Record account. To help meet this demand, the Ministry has also increased our call centre capacity and there are now three call centres all operating extended hours.

You can request a My Vaccine Pass from the website.

COVID-19 vaccine update

• Total first and second vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people): 7,423,710: 3,866,728 first doses (92%); 3,556,982 second doses (85%)
• Total first and second vaccines administered yesterday: 18,092: 6,319 first doses; 11,773 second doses
• Māori (percentage of eligible people): 838,182: 460,283 first doses (81%); 377,899 second doses (66%)
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people): 488,001: 258,423 first doses (90%); 229,578 second doses (80%)
• Total first and second vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday: 4,004: 1,106 first doses; 2,898 second doses

Vaccination rates by DHB (with active cases)

• Northland DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (85%); second doses (75%)
• Auckland Metro DHBs (percentage of eligible people): First doses (94%); second doses (88%)
• Waikato DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (91%); second doses (82%)
• Canterbury DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (95%); second doses (87%)
• Lakes DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (87%); second doses (77%)
• MidCentral DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (91%); second doses (83%)
• Bay of Plenty DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (89%); second doses (79%)
• Wairarapa DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (92%); second doses (82%)
• Hawke's Bay DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (90%); second doses (81%)
• Capital and Coast DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (95%); second doses (89%)

Hospitalisations

• Cases in hospital: 78. North Shore (19); Middlemore (24); Auckland (32); Waikato (3)
• Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only as of 26 November): Unvaccinated or not eligible (44 cases / 59%); partially vaccinated14 days (8 cases / 11 %); fully vaccinated 14 days (10 cases / 14%); unknown (3 cases / 4%)
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 46
• Cases in ICU or HDU: Eight

Cases

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 187
• Number of new community cases: 173
• Number of new cases identified at the border: Four
• Location of new community cases *: Auckland (154), Waikato (15), Northland (1), Bay of Plenty (2), Lakes (1)
• Location of community cases (total): Auckland 7,242 (2,300 of whom have recovered); Waikato 408 (109 of whom have recovered); Wellington 18 (17 of whom have recovered); Northland 75 (39 of whom have recovered); Nelson/Marlborough 1 (recovered); Canterbury 8 (4 of whom have recovered); Taranaki 6 (all of whom have recovered); Lakes 26; MidCentral 5 (1 has recovered); Bay of Plenty 40; Wairarapa 3
• Number of community cases (total): 7,832 (in current community outbreak)
• Confirmed cases (total): 10,598
• Historical cases: 199 out of 8,792 cases since 1 January
• Cases infectious in the community **: 61 cases reported yesterday have exposure events
• Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious **: 90 cases reported yesterday have no exposure events
• Cases epidemiologically linked: 92 of today's new cases
• Cases to be epidemiologically linked: 81 of today's new cases
• Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 5,911660 (8990 unlinked in the last 14 days)

Contacts

• Number of active contacts being managed (total): 6,335
• Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 66%
• Percentage who have returned at least one result: 71%

Locations of interest

• Locations of interest (total): 180 (as at 10am 26 November)

Tests

• Number of tests (total): 4,812,340
• Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 31,003
• Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours): 13,866
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 30,161
• Testing centres in Auckland: 19

Wastewater

• Wastewater detections: See below Wastewater update

NZ COVID Tracer

• Registered users (total): 3,407,689
• Poster scans (total): 535,420,116
• Manual diary entries (total): 20,748,603
• Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday: 2,846,441

New cases identified at the border

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

*Today's cases

Today we are announcing new community cases in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes and Canterbury. The case we're reporting in Canterbury today came in after our 9am cut off and will be officially added to the case numbers tomorrow.

There are no additional cases to report today in Wairarapa, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, MidCentral or Taranaki.

One previously reported community case has been reclassified to a border case and so the net increase is 172 community cases.

Regional updates

We're asking anyone in the following regions with symptoms – no matter how mild – to please get tested, even if you're vaccinated. Please remain isolated until you return a negative test result. And if you're not vaccinated, your DHB or local health provider will have plenty of opportunities to make this happen.

Northland

There is one new case to report in Northland today. This is a child who is linked to an Auckland case who has been isolating.

A case in Ruakaka reported yesterday has now been linked. Anyone living in or near Ruakaka with symptoms that could be COVID-19 is urged to get a test.

In response to the Ruakaka case, a pop up testing site is opening this afternoon at the Ruakaka Racecourse.

The pop-up site is open at the following times:

• 9am until 3pm today
• 9am until 3pm Saturday
• 10am until 2pm Sunday
• 9am until 3pm Monday

Testing and vaccination sites open in Northland can be found on the Northland DHB website.

New locations of interest in Northland continue to be added to the Ministry website.

Auckland

Today, there are 154 new cases to report in Auckland. 

There continues to be daily reviews of testing numbers and testing locations to ensure good coverage of risk areas.        

Health staff are now supporting 4,058 people to isolate at home around Auckland - this includes 1,070 cases. 

Waikato

There were 15 cases confirmed in Waikato overnight - six in Huntly, four in Hamilton, three in Te Kūiti, and two in Ngāruawāhia.

All cases have been linked to previous cases.

There were further locations of interest identified yesterday across Hamilton, Huntly and Te Kūiti, these have been added to the Ministry of Health's website.