There are 53 new cases of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community today. All 53 cases are in Auckland. This brings the total number of active cases in the community outbreak to 562.
The total number of community cases in Auckland is now 547 and in Wellington it is 15.
There are 522 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically-linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 42 for which links are yet to be fully established.
There are currently seven epidemiologically-linked subclusters identified within this outbreak. The two largest clusters are the Birkdale Social Network cluster (79 confirmed cases), and the Mangere church cluster (280 confirmed cases).
Of the current community cases, 37 cases are in hospital – 32 are in a stable condition on a ward and five cases are in a stable condition in ICU. Two cases are in North Shore Hospital, 20 are in Middlemore Hospital, 14 are in Auckland City Hospital, and one is in Wellington Regional Hospital.
There are appropriate isolation and infection prevention and control plans in place at all hospitals where these patients are being managed.
In addition to two recovered community cases in Auckland, one other case in a MIQ facility has now also recovered.
Therefore, the total number of active cases being managed in New Zealand is currently 603.
There is one new case and one historical case of COVID-19 in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities.
| Arrival date |
From |
Via |
Positive test day/reason |
Managed isolation/quarantine location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 August |
Qatar |
Direct flight |
Day 3 / routine |
Auckland |
The historical case arrived on 25 August and tested positive at day 0. They are currently at a quarantine facility in Auckland.
The full travel history has now been confirmed for case one reported in yesterday's statement – they travelled from Sri Lanka, via Auckland.
Since 1 January 2021, there have been 125 historical cases, out of a total of 1,345 cases.
Our total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is 3,163.
Amberlea Home and Hospital Care Facility (Algie's Bay)
A mobile testing site remains at Amberlea today for testing of residents and staff.
Testing
Testing nationwide remains an essential part of our response to this outbreak, in particular providing confidence for understanding the extent of any spread of COVID-19.
Our advice remains the same - wherever you are in the country, if you were at a location of interest, at the specified times, or have cold and flu symptoms, please call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing.
By calling Healthline, people who have been at locations of interest at relevant times are logged into the contact tracing system. This means their swab can be tracked and processed faster by the laboratories.
Information on the Ministry's Locations of Interest page also includes advice for contacts on how they should be keeping themselves safe, depending on the location they visited.
Yesterday, 16,370 tests were processed across New Zealand.
Testing centres in Auckland had another busy day yesterday with around 15,000 swabs taken across Auckland, with around 10,500 at community testing centres and around 4,500 at general practice and urgent care clinics.
There are 26 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland today, this includes 4 invitation-only testing centres for high-risk groups and to prioritise essential health care workers, 6 regular community testing centres and 16 pop-up testing centres.
The community testing centres at Wiri and Balmoral are operating extended hours this week and will stay open until 8pm to supplement existing testing in Urgent Care Clinics.
