August 21 2021
There are 21 new cases of Covid-19 in the community - bringing the total number of people infected in the latest outbreak to 51.
Three Wellington supermarkets, the AUT city campus, a new Auckland bus route and a bowling alley, a takeaway shop and dairy in South Auckland are among locations added to a ballooning list where the Covid virus could have spread published by the Ministry of Health so far today.
However, all locations of interest from August 8 and earlier have been removed after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today further testing had given the Government more confidence the outbreak was linked to an infected person who arrived from New South Wales on August 7.
There are now 45 confirmed Covid cases in Auckland and six in Wellington.
Students at AUT, the University of Auckland and Auckland's De la Salle College and McAuley High School have tested positive and attended classes while infectious.
The locations of interest include 197 visits to 165 distinct locations in Auckland, central North Island, Wellington and the Coromandel.
The central North Island locations were visited by two people who returned home from Auckland in their cars on Monday afternoon and evening, later testing positive.
They are BP Bulls, BP Tokoroa, Z Petrol Station Waiouru and the Waiouru public toilets State Highway 1. Officials earlier said locations of interest they visited on the way included a cafe, workplace and pharmacy but details are yet to be released on these locations.
New locations in Wellington and Auckland added today include: Countdown in Newtown, Pak'nSave in Kilbirnie, Asian Food Specialist in Kilbirnie, Lumino - Glenfield Dental Centre, Manukau Super Strike Bowling, Roscommon Superette in Manurewa, Pinati's Keke Pua'a Samoan food shop and Ulutoa and Sons takeaways, both in Otahuhu and Bus 129 from Don Buck Rd in Massey to Auckland CBD, and AUT City campus on August 11.
Five school bus runs in the Royal Oak/Onehunga area and in South Auckland were also added to the locations of interest today, as well as Lynfield College in Mt Roskill and De la Salle High School in Māngere East.
McAuley High School in Ōtāhuhu and the University of Auckland are expected to be added today after it emerged a student at each had been diagnosed with Covid-19.
Spark Arena, which hosted more than 2000 people, including TV presenters Hilary Barry and Jeremy Corbett and nationwide workers from Mitre 10 and Bayleys over two nights last week is also a location of interest after a bar worker tested positive.
Those present at any of the locations during the listed times are asked to get tested and self isolate.
The locations show the growing nature of the outbreak and its spread across the North Island.
University of Auckland vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater emailed staff to say the student - who lived in a university hall with 160 others - attended classes on Monday and Tuesday this week.
They then travelled to Wellington to be with family before testing positive, Freshwater said.
Yesterday, Air NZ flight 445 from Auckland to Wellington on Sunday, August 15 at 5pm was added as a location of interest.
Locations of interest released yesterday include the Assembly of God Church in Māngere on Sunday, August 15, between 9am and 3pm.
Others are mostly for bus routes on Monday and Tuesday, including between Māngere and Ōtāhuhu and Queen St-Newmarket-Māngere.
Previously new additions included New Lynn RSA Bowling Club, Countdown Birkenhead, St Honores Bakery Birkenhead, Church of Christ and its Sunday school in Mount Roskill, Giga Net Cafe in Mt Albert, Laundrycoin Laundromat Takanini, Birkenhead Superette & Lotto and the Downtown Carpark in Auckland's CBD.
Blockhouse Bay Christian Kindergarten previously just had one visit there on August 4, but other visits were on August 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16 and 17 between 9am and 3pm.
With the three Wellingtonians now testing positive, the first locations of interest in the capital were also released yesterday.
That meant people who visited One Sushi Porirua, on Serlby Place, between 6.15pm and 6.30pm on August 17 are being urged to isolate and get a test.
Other Wellington locations include:
• Countdown Johnsonville Rd. • Johnsonville Medical Centre Pharmacy. • 1841 Bar and Restaurant Johnsonville. • The Roast Canteen Johnsonville. • St Pierre's Sushi Johnsonville Mall.
The owners of 1841 thanked the public for "messages of support".
"Please also follow the Ministry of Health guidelines of what to do should you have been in during the time in question ... we'll be back."
Earlier in Auckland, 79 locations of interest were added on Thursday as contact tracers made their first inroads into understanding the size of this outbreak.
That list began to show more businesses and eateries outside of North Shore, where a 58-year-old Devonport man tested positive for Covid earlier this week - sparking the level 4 lockdown.
It included businesses, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, takeaways, movie cinemas, petrol stations, car yards and even a cemetery spread across the city's west, east, north and south.
Authorities including director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern continue to advise people to check the list regularly to ensure they have not been at a location of interest.
That is especially key for essential workers as well as people living in or who have recently been to the Auckland region.
Anyone who has been at a location of interest at the same time as a confirmed Covid positive case is automatically deemed a close contact.
All close contacts are to go into self-isolation immediately - as well as anyone they are living with - for 14 days.
They are also asked to get tested for Covid and to contact Healthline on 0800 611 116 for more advice.
It is thought potentially thousands of people are or will be affected and some companies are already having to deal with the effects of having a reduced number of staff available.
Many staff members are having to self-isolate for a fortnight.
Some supermarkets, including New World Mt Roskill and Pak'nSave Wairau, have started advertising job positions - including checkout operators - in order to help fill current vacancies caused by the Covid outbreak.
Pak'nSave Wairau has also reduced its opening hours because of a reduced number of staff members.
