Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said home quarantine would be introduced "fairly soon" as a necessary step to prevent MIQ spaces from being limited even further for people coming to New Zealand from overseas.
University of Auckland professor of epidemiology Rod Jackson said the outbreak had to be slowed down.
"Last night, there were 75 unlinked cases in Auckland. What that means is there are a lot more cases out there."
He said the speed of the spread of the Delta variant makes this outbreak worse than any previous one.