There are 11 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today (Friday) - all in Auckland.
Two of these cases remain unlinked.
The total number of cases in this outbreak is 1,007. Of these, 549 have recovered.
Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said New Zealand is closing in on the outbreak and there is reason to be "cautiously optimistic".
She said further places of interest in the Waikato will be put online, related to the truck driver with Covid-19 who travelled between Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and the Waikato.
She said the supermarkets he visited in these places aren't locations of interest, because the truck driver had contact with staff at delivery areas, not the general public.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said the trans-Tasman bubble pause will be extended for another two months until mid to late-November.
The pause was due to end on September 24.
A third 'red flight' for New Zealanders stranded in Australia will be put on.
Robertson said Treasury estimated that having Auckland at Level 4 and the rest of New Zealand at Delta Level 2 costs the economy $700 million a week.
Should Auckland move to Level 3 next week, as Cabinet has decided 'in-principle', the cost to the economy is expected to be $260 million a week.
Robertson reiterated that if Auckland moves to Level 3, the people limit at venues throughout the rest of New Zealand is expected to be lifted from 50 to 100.
Cabinet will make a decision on alert levels on Monday.
Here's the latest from the Ministry of Health:
| Cases | |
| Number of new community cases | 11 |
| Number of new cases identified at the border | Five |
| Location of new cases | Auckland |
| Location of community cases (total) | Auckland 990 (535 of whom have recovered); Wellington 17 (15 of whom have recovered) |
| Number of community cases (total) | 1,007 (in current community outbreak) |
| Cases infectious in the community * | Nine (60%) of yesterday’s 15 cases have exposure events |
| Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious * | Six (40%) of yesterday’s 15 cases |
| Cases epidemiologically linked | Nine of today’s cases |
| Cases to be epidemiologically linked | Two of today’s cases |
| Cases epidemiologically linked (total) | 973 (in current cluster) (13 in past 14 days unlinked) |
| Number of sub-clusters | Nine epidemiologically linked subclusters. The three largest subclusters are the Māngere church group: 384; and Birkdale social network cluster: 79; secondary community transmission associated with the Māngere church group 164. And ten epidemiologically unlinked subclusters. |
| Cases in hospital | 14 (total): North Shore (2); Middlemore (8); Auckland (4) |
| Cases in ICU or HDU | Three |
| Confirmed cases (total) | 3,658 since pandemic began |
| Historical cases, since 1 Jan 2021 (total) | 149 out of 1,840 since 1 Jan 2021 |
| Contacts | |
| Number of active contacts being managed (total): | 1064 |
| Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements) | 94% |
| Percentage with at least one test result | 88% |
| Locations of interest | |
| Locations of interest (total) | 135 (as at 10am 17 September) |
| Tests | |
| Number of tests (total) | 3,206,325 |
| Number of tests total (last 24 hours) | 15,419 |
| Tests in Auckland (last 24 hours) | 7400 |
| Tests rolling average (last 7 days) | 13,177 |
| Testing centres in Auckland | 23 |
| Wastewater | |
| Wastewater detections | Auckland eastern suburbs (catchment includes Pakuranga, Shelley Park, Bucklands Beach) |
| COVID-19 vaccine update | |
| Vaccines administered to date (total) | 4,569,255; 1st doses: 3,015,345; 2nd doses: 1,553,910 |
| Vaccines administered yesterday (total) | 60,506; 1st doses: 36,666; 2nd doses: 23,840 |
| Māori | 1st doses: 282,828; 2nd doses: 135,945 |
| Pacific Peoples | 1st doses: 182,388; 2nd doses: 93,880 |
| NZ COVID-19 tracer | |
| Registered users (total) | 3,224,773 |
| Poster scans (total) | 363,829,166 |
| Manual diary entries (total) | 16,437,191 |
| Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday | 2,478,712 |
Here's a press release on the trans-Tasman bubble pause:
The suspension of quarantine-free travel (QFT) with Australia has been extended, given the current Delta outbreaks, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today.
“When QFT was established with Australia, both our countries had very few recent cases of COVID-19 community transmission, and a very similar elimination strategy. This has changed significantly leading to our decision to suspend QFT for a further eight weeks,” Chris Hipkins said.
“Uncontrolled community transmission is still occurring in Australia, with case numbers continuing to steadily increase in New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. A small number of cases also continue to appear intermittently in other states and territories. In New Zealand as well, we’re getting on top of an outbreak in Auckland.
“Protecting New Zealand from any possible further spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 is our absolute priority. We have made great progress to contain our current outbreak and are working hard to ease restrictions next week. Reopening quarantine-free travel with Australia at this point could put those gains at risk.
“The decision is critical to provide clarity for people in Australia to make informed decisions about their ability to shelter in place in the longer-term or whether to seek return flights and book space in MIQ.
“One of the reasons we established QFT with Australia was because our countries share so many close connections, and I acknowledge that this further suspension will be disappointing for many people.
“We’re announcing the decision today so that people in Australia can participate in the MIQ room release on Monday for rooms in October and November. Travellers from Australia need to visit the MIQ website to find out how to participate. There will be a second room release later in the month.
“A third red flight from Australia to New Zealand is also planned for those in emergency situations. This follows the two red flights that returned stranded Kiwis home to New Zealand on 5 and 15 September.”
The costs of flights and MIQ will need to be covered by travellers, and a pre-departure test from an accredited laboratory, also at the traveller’s cost, will be required within 72 hours of travel.
“We will review this decision in mid to late November to give more time for our vaccination rates to climb higher. It will be heavily influenced by the policies we’re working on for the Reconnecting New Zealand strategy.
“This recognises that the QFT was established on the basis that there was little to no community transmission in Australia, and that future settings are likely to change,” Chris Hipkins said.
The start of a maritime QFT system with Australia will be paused and reconsidered in 2022.
QFT from Australia to New Zealand was suspended on Friday 23 July, and the suspension was due to end on 24 September.
Further information is available on the Unite Against COVID-19 website.
What you need to do before the 9am MIQ lobby starts is on the MIQ website.
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