More than 12,000 Covid tests were carried out yesterday. File photo / Greg Bowker
More than 12,000 Covid tests were carried out yesterday. File photo / Greg Bowker
There are six new Covid cases in the community, the Ministry of Health says.
Four are linked to the existing Auckland cluster, while the origin of the other two cases is still being looked into.
"Four are epidemiologically linked to the cluster in Auckland – two are household contacts and two are church contacts. The other two cases reported today remain under investigation," the ministry said.
"There are 145 people linked to the cluster who have been moved into the Auckland quarantine facility. This includes 75 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and their household contacts."
"This morning we had identified 2060 close contacts, and 2004 have been contacted and are self-isolating, and we are in the process of contacting the rest," the ministry said.
There are nine people in hospital. Two people are in Auckland City Hospital, four people in Middlemore, two people in North Shore Hospital and one person in Waikato Hospital.
Six people are stable on a ward, and three people in Middlemore are in ICU.
There are 111 active Covid cases in New Zealand: 16 tested positive at the border and the rest are community cases.
Labs processed 12,256 Covid tests yesterday, bringing the total number of tests completed to 685,476 since the pandemic began.
Level 3 travel exemptions
The ministry said it had received more than 10,000 applications for travel through Auckland, because of the alert level 3 restrictions.
More than 1400 have so far been approved, and 300 declined.
"Urgent exemptions, for example, to visit a dying relative, are prioritised and dealt with promptly," the ministry said.
Covid tracer app
The ministry said 1712,000 Kiwis had registered for the Covid-19 smartphone app. This represents about 42 per cent of the county's population aged 15 and above.
There have been 12,918,793 poster scans to date, and 1,441,268 manual entries into the app.
Earlier
NZ Post revealed this morning it had now stood down all staff from its Highbrook centre who worked the same shift as two workers who have tested positive.
The stand-down involves 70 staff on full pay and will remain in place until August 29, chief operating officer Mark Stewart said, and was based on advice from the Ministry of Health late last night.
Yesterday the ministry reported an increase of 11 confirmed and probable cases including five linked to different churches in South Auckland with 223 possible contacts.
Two of yesterday's 11 new cases were detected in arrivals who are required to spend two weeks in managed isolation and undergo at least two sets of Covid-19 tests.
The NZ Post distribution centre in Highbrook taken in May under alert level 2. Photo / Michael Craig
Yesterday New Zealand had 105 active cases, most of them linked to the new Auckland community cluster which was confirmed on August 11 at the Americold cold store depot in South Auckland.
Of the 105 cases, 16 were from managed isolation facilities.
Cabinet is due to review Auckland's alert level 3 on Monday with a view to changing it on Wednesday August 26.
Movement in and out of Auckland is restricted. Retail is limited to contactless unless the business is a supermarket, diary, petrol station, pharmacy or permitted health service.
Workers must work from home if they can. Social distancing is required and face masks are recommended for shopping and public transport.
