There are 143 new community cases today - 135 in Auckland, six in Waikato and two in Northland.

There were no community cases in Christchurch today. One previously reported case in the city has been reclassified as a historical case, so the total Christchurch tally is now four.

There was no media conference today. In a statement, the Ministry of Health said because of the recently reported cases in Canterbury, it was important that anyone with any symptoms - no matter how mild - got tested.

The Ministry said 73 cases are still to be linked. There are 384 unlinked cases from the past 14 days.

It said the reported number of cases in Auckland "is not unexpected and is line with modelling to date".

Fifty-six people are in hospital, up from 47 yesterday. Two are in intensive care.

There were no cases detected at the border today.

There have now been 3348 cases in the current community outbreak, and a total of 6068 cases since the pandemic began.

There were 42,617 vaccines given yesterday, including 10,703 first doses and 31,914 second doses.

No new cases at rest home

The Ministry said there are no new cases to report in the Edmonton Meadows care home in Henderson, after [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/454566/covid-19-eight-new-cases-confirmed-at-auckland-retirement-village eight new cases were reported yesterday.

Two residents with the coronavirus have been transferred to hospital for care.

Just one positive staff member has been required to stand down so far.

The care home continues to operate under alert level 3 guidelines for visitors.

More locations of interest in Northland

The two Northland cases reported today were announced yesterday and have been formally added to the official tally today.

There have now been 12 confirmed Covid-19 community cases in Northland in the current outbreak. All of the cases are isolating at home.

There are seven new locations of interest identified in Mangawhai, Kaiwaka and Whangārei - Public Health. More updates will be available on the locations of interest list on the Ministry website.

Tonga traveller contacts

The Ministry said the four household contacts of the person who reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 in Tonga yesterday have been traced, are in isolation and have returned an initial negative result. Two close contacts are in isolation at home in Christchurch and two in Porirua.

"Anyone with symptoms is asked to please get tested and reminded to get vaccinated today if they have not already. Testing locations in the Wellington region can be found at Capital and Coast DHB and Hutt Valley DHB."

The positive Covid-19 case on Tonga has been moved to a quarantine facility that has been set up in the Mu'a community clinic outside the capital, Nuku'alofa.

The man was returning to Tonga on a special relocation flight from Christchurch that landed in Nuku'alofa on Wednesday.

Record case count on Saturday

The highest national daily count for new Covid-19 cases in the pandemic was reported yesterday, with 160 community cases.

A man infected with Covid-19 was yesterday reported to have broken out of an Ellerslie MIQ hotel in Auckland, but was caught by police less than half and hour later and has been arrested.

And a public health expert said the rising case numbers could be the result of people who were contacts or had symptoms not getting tested.