There are 70 new cases of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community today; all are in Auckland. This brings the total number of cases in the community outbreak to 347.The total number of community cases in Auckland is now 333 and in Wellington it is 14.The Ministry of Health said of the cases have or are being transferred safely to a quarantine facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.
There are 278 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically-linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 69 for which links are yet to be fully established.
There are currently six epidemiologically-linked subclusters identified within this outbreak. The two largest clusters are the Birkdale Social Network cluster associated with Case A (45 confirmed cases), and the Mangere church cluster (146 confirmed cases). The remaining clusters have fewer than 20 people associated with them.
Of these 70 new cases, 44 are Pacific peoples, 11 are Asian, six are European, six are Māori, and the ethnicity of three is unknown.
Nineteen of the current community cases are in a stable condition in hospital; one of these cases is in a stable condition in ICU. Of those in hospital, two are in North Shore Hospital, eight are in Middlemore Hospital, and nine are in Auckland City Hospital.
There are no new cases identified at the border in recent returnees to report today.
The total number of active cases being managed in New Zealand is currently 384.
Since 1 January 2021, there have been 124 historical cases, out of a total of 1,123 cases.
Our total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is 2,941.Wastewater samples from 108 locations have now either been analysed or are currently in the laboratory being analysed. There are 78 locations in the North Island and 30 locations in South Island. These cover an estimated 3.8 million people, and over 90 percent of the New Zealand population connected to reticulated wastewater systems.
There are no unexpected detections to report. The most recent analysis shows there continues to be positive results in Warkworth, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, as previously reported.
Covid-19 was detected in a sample collected on Tuesday from Warkworth but nearby areas including Snells/Algies continue to be negative. In the Wellington region, the virus continues to only be detected in samples collected from Moa Point and likely reflects known cases shedding the virus.
A further sample collected from Christchurch collected on Wednesday was processed today and has returned a positive result. As reported yesterday, this result is consistent with virus shedding from those cases in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Christchurch, however, further testing is underway from a range of sites in Christchurch.