Friday: new Covid cases rise to 129

by Peter Newport - Oct 22, 2021

From the Ministry of Health:

There are 129 new community cases today; 120 are in Auckland and nine are in the Waikato. As at 9am today, 64 of these cases are linked, of whom 25 are household contacts, and 65 remain unlinked with investigations continuing to help determine their connection to the current outbreak. 

Cases  
Number of new community cases 129
Number of new cases identified at the border Five
Location of new community cases Auckland (120) Waikato (9)
Location of community cases (total) Auckland 2,299 (1,366 of whom have recovered); Waikato 73 (12 of whom have recovered); Wellington 17 (all of whom have recovered)
Number of community cases (total) 2,389 (in current community outbreak)
Cases infectious in the community   48 of yesterday’s 102 cases have exposure events
Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious   54 of yesterday’s 102 cases
Cases epidemiologically linked 64 of today’s 129 cases
Cases to be epidemiologically linked 65 of today’s 129 cases
Cases epidemiologically linked (total) 2,115 (in the current cluster) (195 unlinked from the past 14 days)
Cases in hospital 51 (total): North Shore (8); Middlemore (18); Auckland (24); Waikato (1)
Cases in ICU or HDU Five
Confirmed cases (total) 5090 since pandemic began
Historical cases, since 1 Jan 2021 (total)* 173 out of 3,275 since 1 Jan 2021
Contacts  
Number of active contacts being managed (total): 2,319
Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements) 82%
Percentage with at least one test result 75%
Locations of interest  
Locations of interest (total) 396 (as at 10am 22 October)
Tests  
Number of tests (total) 3,870,822
Number of tests total (last 24 hours) 27,831
Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours) 13,763
Tests rolling average (last 7 days) 24,215
Testing centres in Auckland 20
Wastewater  
Wastewater detections No unexpected detections in the last 24 hours
COVID-19 vaccine update  
Vaccines administered to date (total) 6,516,515; 1st doses: 3,614,484 (86%); 2nddoses: 2,902,031 (69%)
Vaccines administered yesterday (total) 41,294; 1st doses: 10,066; 2nd doses: 31,228
Māori 1st doses: 387,290 (68%); 2nd doses: 268,989 (47%)
Pacific Peoples 1st doses: 234,012 (82%); 2nd doses: 176,919 (62%)
Vaccines administered to Auckland residents to date (total) 2,346,051; 1st doses: 1,282,360 (89%); 2nddoses: 1,063,691 (74%)
Vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday (total) 12,623: 1st doses: 2,604, 2nd doses: 10,019
NZ COVID Tracer  
Registered users (total) 3,312,957
Poster scans (total) 447,458,826
Manual diary entries (total) 18,732,554
Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday 2,483,429


* a previously reported border case has now been reclassified as historical

New cases identified at the border

Arrival date From Via Positive test day/reason Managed isolation/quarantine location
9 October Singapore Direct flight Day 10 / routine Auckland
         
13 October Full travel history to be obtained   Day 6 / routine Auckland
16 October Full travel history to be obtained   Day 5 / routine Auckland
16 October Russia United Arab Emirates Day 3 / routine Auckland
20 October Full travel history to be obtained   Day 0 / routine Christchurch




Update on Waikato case who travelled to Hawke’s Bay
Public health officials in the Waikato are continuing to investigate a local case who travelled to Hawke’s Bay before returning a positive COVID-19 result.
One location of interest, Kmart Napier, has been identified and anyone there between 3:53pm – 5:13 pm on Friday 15 October is asked to monitor their symptoms for 14 days and if any develop, get tested and stay at home until a negative test result is received and they have been symptom-free for 24 hours.

No further locations of interest in Hawke’s Bay have been identified but locals are asked to please keep checking the Ministry of Health’s website.

There have been no positive detections for COVID-19 in the most recent wastewater samples collected from Hastings (19 and 20 October), Napier (18 and 20 October), and Wairoa (15 and 19 October). Further samples from these sites will be collected next week.

Waikato update
There are nine new cases to report today in the Waikato region, all have been contacted and confirmed linked to existing cases.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the region, associated with this outbreak, to 73. At this time, there are four cases in Waikato that are deemed unlinked, with investigations continuing to help determine their connection to the outbreak.

Waikato DHB is continuing to carry out testing throughout the region, to help determine any undetected community spread of COVID-19.

We are urging anyone in Waikato - in particular, people in Te Awamutu - to get tested if they have symptoms.

Testing locations in and around Waikato are available on the Healthpoint website and the Waikato DHB website, with testing available throughout Labour Weekend.

Yesterday there were 4,476 swabs taken across the region. Vaccination rates in Waikato also remained steady yesterday with 3,406 people receiving a dose – of these vaccinations, 1,040 were first doses, and a further 2,366 were second doses.

Auckland suburbs of interest
As the outbreak is now more dispersed, testing in Auckland is now focused on areas with higher positivity rates and where the risk of unidentified cases is higher.

One suburb of interest with a high positivity rate of more than 7% is Redvale, on the North Shore. At this stage, no recorded cases in Redvale have been linked to last weekend’s well-reported party.

We are asking Redvale residents with symptoms, no matter how mild, to get tested as soon as possible, even if they are vaccinated. We are also encouraging testing in New Lynn and the North Shore suburbs of Rosedale and Bayswater.

Testing is available at:
·        Eventfinda Stadium, 17 Silverfield, Wairau Valley - open 8.30am to 4.30pm
·        North Harbour Stadium, Oteha Valley Road in Carpark B – open 8.30am – 4.30pm  
·        Northcote Community Testing Centre, Corner of College Road and Kilham Avenue – open  6.30am – 6.30pm  
·        Health New Lynn, Totara Health Services, McCrae Way, New Lynn – open 8.30am – 4.30pm  

Testing is also available at GP and Urgent Care clinics. The locations of these can be found on https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/

We still want everyone in Auckland to get a test if they have any symptoms – even those who are full vaccinated or with very mild symptoms should get tested and isolate at home while waiting for test results.  

Vaccination reminder

We would like to remind people that they can get their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine any time from three weeks after they get their first. This will ensure they get the high protection that full vaccination provides as soon as possible.

We recommend those who have had their first dose of the vaccine but haven’t yet booked their second to do so by logging on to bookmyvaccine.nz or calling 0800 28 29 26.

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