There has been a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the community with 45 new cases announced today.
There has also been an increase in testing in the Bay of Plenty region following the detection of Covid-19 in Tauranga wastewater, but the numbers could still be higher, according to Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
All of the positive results have been returned in Auckland and despite the incline, Bloomfield has attempted to quell fears over the jump.
He explains that 33 are known to be close contacts of previous cases and have been isolating throughout their infectious period. Of those, 26 are household contacts and Bloomfield says this rise was anticipated.
'While the overall number today is obviously a lot higher it is important to note many of these cases are linked and in some sense they were expected,” Bloomfield says.
Twelve cases are unlinked and interviews are underway with six potential links already established.
There has been a slight increase in testing numbers across the Bay of Plenty, with 400 tested since the wastewater announcement.
But Bloomfield is suggesting that figure could be higher.
'We would like to see more,” he says. 'I am just emphasising again that if anyone in that Tauranga and Mount Maunganui area have any symptoms then please go get a test.”
He says there is increased testing capacity in the area and also implores people in Tauranga to get vaccinated.
At today's 1pm media update Bloomfield was asked why the positive wastewater result, which was known on Monday, was not released until Tuesday.
He says that the usual protocol is to wait for a repeat test regarding wastewater but on this occasion after discussions the decision was made to announce the result.
Further testing of Tauranga's wastewater is underway and results will
The overall number of community cases is now 1230. There are 15 epidemiologically linked subclusters. Of these, three are active, eight are contained and four are dormant. There are 10 epidemiologically unlinked subclusters. Of these, none are active, three are contained and seven are dormant.
There are 16 cases currently in hospital, seven in both Middlemore and Auckland and two in North Shore. Three are in ICU.
On vaccines, there were 44,649 doses handed out yesterday. Just 13,519 of these were first doses but second doses were at 31,130.
| Cases | |
| Number of new community cases | 45 |
| Number of new cases identified at the border | No cases |
| Location of new community cases | Auckland |
| Location of community cases (total) | Auckland (including 4 cases in Upper Hauraki; all of whom are in the same household) 1,213 (969 of whom have recovered); Wellington 17 (all of whom have recovered) |
| Number of community cases (total) | 1,230 (in the current community outbreak) |
| Cases infectious in the community | Four (50%) of yesterday's cases have exposure events |
| Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious | Four (50 %) of yesterday's cases |
| Cases epidemiologically linked | 33 of today's 45 cases are linked. Of these 26 are household contacts. |
| Cases to be epidemiologically linked | Twelve of today's 45 cases. Investigations are continuing to determine a link. |
| Cases epidemiologically linked (total) | 1,193 (in the current cluster) (15 unlinked from the past fortnight). |
| Number of sub-clusters | 15 epidemiologically linked subclusters. Of these, three are active, eight are contained and four are dormant. There are 10 epidemiologically unlinked subclusters. Of these, none are active, three are contained and seven are dormant. |
| Cases in hospital | 16 (total): North Shore (2) Middlemore (7); Auckland (7) |
| Cases in ICU or HDU | Three |
| Confirmed cases (total)* | 3,892 since pandemic began. |
| Historical cases, since 1 Jan 2021 (total) | 159 out of 2,074 since 1 Jan 2021 |
| Contacts | |
| Number of open contacts being managed (total): | 951 |
| Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements) | 92% |
| Percentage with at least one test result | 91% |
| Locations of interest | |
| Locations of interest (total) | 91 (as at 10am 28 September) |
| Tests | |
| Number of tests (total) | 3,361,927 |
| Number of tests processed (total last 24 hours) | 15,437 |
| Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours) | 8,537 |
| Tests rolling average (last 7 days) | 13,438 |
| Testing centres in Auckland | 21 |
| Wastewater | |
| Wastewater detections | There are no new unexpected wastewater detections. We are awaiting further results following the positive detection in Tauranga reported yesterday. |
| COVID-19 vaccine update | |
| Vaccines administered to date (total) | 5,132,627; 1st doses: 3,266,796; 2nd doses: 1,865,831 |
| Vaccines administered yesterday (total) | 44,649 1st doses: 13,519; 2nd doses: 31,130 |
| Mâori | 1st doses: 314,427; 2nd doses: 163,804 |
| Pacific Peoples | 1st doses: 203,198; 2nd doses: 114,733 |
| Vaccines administered to Auckland residents to date (total) | 1,868,161; 1st doses: 1,185,737 (83%); 2nd doses: 682,424 (48%) |
| Vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday (total) | 14,376; 1st doses: 3,884; 2nd doses: 10,492 |
| NZ COVID-19 tracer | |
| Registered users (total) | 3,259,983 |
| Poster scans (total) | 392,744,620 |
| Manual diary entries (total) | 17,213,554 |
| Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday | 2,358,889 |
2 comments
Good news everyone
Posted on 29-09-2021 13:27 | By Slim Shady
We need it to get out. It will get vaccinations up. Good news.
More to NZ than Auckland
Posted on 29-09-2021 16:37 | By The Professor
There is plenty of talk in the media about not moving Auckland down to level two until more Aucklanders are vaccinated. What about the rest of the country? They cannot move Auckland down to L2 whilst there are community cases, until the entire country has had the chance to have two doses of the vaccine. There is more to NZ than Auckland you know!! Unless level two is going to include borders still and simply give Aucklanders even more freedom within the city?? January is the time to relax all restrictions - we would have all had the chance to become fully vaccinated by then. Those that choose not to - you're on your own, and have no right to dictate controls when flare ups occur. Good luck!!
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.