These people were exposed to Covid-19 prior to coming into custody and are being managed appropriately to avoid any potential for the virus to spread to the prison population. There is no evidence of in-facility transmission to date.
Two further staff members at Edmonton Meadows care home in the Auckland suburb of Henderson have now tested positive for Covid-19.
The total number of active cases linked to the home is now 12.
A mobile testing unit is at the facility today.
Two residents continue to receive care at North Shore Hospital, and the cause of the cluster remains unknown.
A total of 49 people are in hospital today, down from 53 yesterday. There are three patients currently in ICU or a high-dependency unit.
In Christchurch, more wastewater sample results are expected tomorrow after samples earlier in the week tested positive for Covid-19.
While there were no new cases today in Canterbury, the Ministry of Health has encouraged anyone with symptoms - even if mild, and even if the person is vaccinated - to get tested.
The same testing advice has been given to people in Auckland, especially those in the suburbs Redvale, Rosedale, New Lynn, Wiri, Drury, Henderson and Manurewa.
In Auckland, 582 cases are currently isolating at home.
PM heckled in Northland
The new cases came as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ended a press conference early after being heckled in Northland.
Ardern and Māori-Crown relations Minister Kelvin Davis are in Northland, viewing the rollout of vaccinations, and are speaking to media this afternoon.
Ardern told reporters before ending the stand-up that she had seen multiple people getting vaccinated and if anyone had questions they should ask them and have them answered by professionals.
Asked about the Whānau Ora court decision overnight, Ardern said everyone was on the same page and trying to reach as many people as possible.
"Sir I will shut down the press conference if this continues," she told one person heckling her.
"We have someone who is disrupting your press conference today, so we will reconvene."
She eventually shut down the press conference to reconvene inside.
Waikato cases
As of 9am today, there were 18 new cases in the region including six in Hamilton, four in Ōtorohanga, two in Ngaruawahia, four in Te Awamutu, one in Kihikihi and one more possibly linked to an existing Kawhia case.
In a post on Facebook earlier today, Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter said "unfortunately there are possibly four new cases of Covid-19 in Ōtorohanga today".
So far he was not aware of any new locations of interest since the last update at 6pm yesterday.
Baxter urged residents to continue to treat every premise as if it was a location of interest.
"So carry on wearing face masks, social distance and sanitise. This is even more important now we are about to change to a new level."
Baxter said it was also "disappointing to hear" that the number of people being tested in Ōtorohanga had dropped off considerably in the last few days.
"Please if you are unwell, have any doubts, or are worried, please get tested."
Meanwhile, Northland's Covid-19 Delta outbreak has grown to 14 cases after health officials this morning confirmed a second case in the Kaitaia area.
Northland District Health Board said it is now aware of a second case of Covid-19 in the Kaitaia area, which is a household member of the first case
Parts of Waikato are due to move to alert level 3.2 from 11.59pm tonight.
The Government has shifted gears in its Covid response, clearly moving away from managing the number of new cases and pivoting its focus to preventing people from dying of Covid or needing to go to hospital.
The Ministry of Health has got in behind the effort, changing the way it publishes the daily Covid numbers to focus on the number of people who have been vaccinated and the number of people who are in hospital, although daily case numbers will still be available.
The almost daily 1pm press conferences will be replaced with less regular updates - on Wednesdays and Fridays. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, will now only host the Monday post-Cabinet press conference, and her co-star Dr Ashley Bloomfield has had his appearances trimmed too. Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy PM Grant Robertson will deal with them instead.
Modelling predictions show there could be an increasing daily count during November.
Yesterday the Ministry of Health reported 162 new community cases of Covid-19 today - the biggest daily count since the outbreak.
The majority of those cases continue to be in Auckland with Waikato reporting five new cases and Northland one more. There were no new cases in Christchurch despite the virus being confirmed in the city last week.
The record number of cases came on the same day Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced parts of Waikato including Hamilton in alert level 3.1 could move to alert level 3.2 from 11.59pm tonight.
Cabinet also made a preliminary decision that Auckland could move to alert level 3.2 from next Tuesday night - signalling the first time some retailers have been able to open their doors since mid-August.
There are also expected to be new cases announced in Ōtorohanga with mayor Max Baxter signalling four new cases in his district this morning. A further case will be confirmed in Kawhia after a DHB oversight saw it omitted from earlier reporting.
Yesterday 92 of the cases remain unlinked to the current outbreak while cases outside Auckland all appear to be linked.
There were also 53 people in hospital, including three in ICU.
Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said based no current modelling cases could rise to 200 a day or 1400 a week by the end of November, resulting in 150 new hospitalisations a week.
Bloomfield said the latest figures showed it was a virus targeting the unvaccinated and was also impacting younger people which he put down to the lower number of hospitalisations.
