Covid-19 update: 198 community cases in New Zealand today

There are 198 new community cases of Covid-19 in the country today, with 46 cases outside Auckland, the Ministry of Health says.

Photo: AFP

There was no media briefing today because Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson visited Auckland this week and must obtain a negative Covid-19 test before returning to Parliament. The Ministry of Health instead released a statement.

Today's cases included 152 in Auckland, 30 in Waikato, five in Northland, six in the Bay of Plenty, two in the Lakes DHB district, and one each in the MidCentral DHB area, Wairarapa and Canterbury.

A weak positive result has also been detected in Wellington.

There are 76 people in hospital, including six in intensive care.

The 30 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Waikato today bring the total number in this outbreak to 214. There is one case currently receiving care at Waikato Hospital.

The one new case reported in Christchurch today recently travelled to the North Island, and has a probable link to another case, the Ministry said.

"Every new case is an urgent reminder to get tested if you're feeling unwell. Testing at high numbers will help to minimise and contain the spread of Covid-19 in Christchurch."

The six new cases in the Bay of Plenty, one of which was announced yesterday, takes the region's total to seven. One lives in the Tauranga area, and four are in Mount Maunganui. All but one of the cases are household contacts of known cases.

All cases are self-isolating at home and a Bay of Plenty school linked to one of the cases had been closed today, with all students and staff offered tests.

Today's three cases in Northland are a close contact in Kaitaia, a close contact in Whangārei with a clear link to an Auckland case, and a case in Waipu who is being interviewed by health authorities.

The cases in the Bay of Plenty and Ashhurst were announced yesterday and have now been officially added to today's figures.

The Ministry said a case reported yesterday in Levin has been reclassified as a Wairarapa case and has been added to the Wairarapa tally.

The two new cases in the Lakes DHB area have brought the region's total to 17. One case is in Taupō, and is a household contact of a known case and is self-isolating at home. A second case being reported today in the area is being investigated and may reside outside of the district.

Of the 167 new cases reported yesterday, 25 were outside Auckland. There were 17 in Waikato, five in Northland, and one each in the Bay of Plenty, Lakes, and Canterbury DHB areas.

There was also one new case and one historical case reported in managed isolation.

The Ministry said there had been 6532 cases in the current community outbreak and 9290 since the pandemic began.

Covid-19 has also been detected in wastewater samples collected from Pahiatua on 15 and 16 November but was not detected in a sample collected on 17 November.

Testing is in progress at a number of other sites across the region, including Feilding and Dannevirke, with results due next week.

There were 20,663 vaccines given yesterday - 6635 first doses and 14,028 second doses.

The Ministry also said about 700,000 people had successfully downloaded their My Vaccine Pass.

"The system is operating smoothly and capacity has been increased, so we encourage people to go to MyCovidRecord.health.nz to book their My Vaccine Pass to be ready for summer."