A student who later tested positive for Covid-19 attended an Auckland University ball of 500 people.
It follows revelations that attendees at two other two big events at Spark Arena - 1000 people at a Mitre 10 awards event last Thursday and 1000 people at a Bayleys Realty conference last Friday - have been told they are close contacts of a bar worker who later tested positive to Covid-19.
It is understood the university student was at a ball for its Waipārūrū Hall at the Aotea Centre last Saturday night.
An email to staff last night from the institution's vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater said a student - a resident at Whitaker Block - attended classes on Monday and Tuesday this week.
The student then travelled to Wellington to be with family before testing positive, Freshwater said.
"The university is working closely with the relevant health agencies on this situation, and is following their protocols, including for contact-tracing, to support our student and to protect the wider university community," Freshwater said.
Residents in Whitaker Block were warned about the positive case.
More Auckland high schools report cases
A student at Western Springs College and a staff at Pukekohe High School, both in Auckland, have tested positive for Covid-19.
The student at Western Springs College was understood to have been in class on Tuesday August 17.
Parents were called earlier tonight and notified of the case.
This takes the total number of schools with confirmed Covid-19 case as a result of the latest Delta outbreak to seven.
Earlier, Pukekohe High School emailed staff to confirm that one of its staff had tested positive for the virus.
SkyCity casino worker has Covid-19
A staff member at SkyCity Casino in Auckland has tested positive for Covid-19.
In an email to staff, the casino wrote: "Late this afternoon Skycity was advised that a staff member in Auckland who was working in our level 3 Platinum Gaming Room between 8.30pm on Friday 13 August and 6am on Saturday 14 August is a confirmed case of Covid-19."
SkyCity Casino was already a location of interest.
"We are moving quickly to review data from employee swipe cards and internal surveillance footage to determine who may have been a close contact," it said.
In an email, chief people and operations officer Michael Frampton said a member of its crew had returned a positive test result for the virus and was at work in Mt Wellington earlier this week.
"While this news is not what any of us wanted to hear, we have good systems in place ... we're taking a proactive and precautionary approach to protecting everyone's health, safety and wellbeing," he said.
The person had been working while potentially infectious on Monday, August 16 from 11.30am to 9pm and Tuesday, August 17 from 8am to 5pm in Studio One.
Bus driver tests positive
Meanwhile, Auckland's Royal Oak Intermediate has confirmed a bus driver who drives one of its school runs has tested positive for Covid-19.
In a post on the school's Facebook page, Board of Trustees chair Dr Andrea Green and principal Tony Coughlan said Auckland Regional Public Health were contact-tracing. The driver of Bus 003 was positive for Covid-19 while driving students home from school on Friday, August 13, Monday, August 16 and Tuesday, August 17.
"We have emailed all families and are currently working to identify the students who were on the bus in question. These students are considered close contacts, and will be required to follow Ministry of Health guidelines for getting tested and self-isolating."
It asked people who had not received an email to contact principal@royaloakint.school.nz if your child went home on Bus 003 on the above dates.
"Our thoughts are with those affected by this, and we are offering support to all staff, students, whānau and members of our community."
The school is a co-educational school catering to years 7 and 8 students in Auckland.
51 cases in the community
At today's 1pm press conference it was revealed there were 21 new cases of Covid-19 in the community - bringing the total number of people infected in the latest outbreak to 51.
And Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did not think the outbreak had hit its peak.
Because Auckland is at the centre of the outbreak with 45 cases (the rest are in Wellington), it was "very likely" restrictions would remain beyond Tuesday, Ardern said.
Cabinet is meeting on Monday to make a decision on the country's alert level 4 lockdown restrictions.
Ardern said she expects cases to rise into early next week before they start to drop.
The number of locations of interest has also ballooned to 165 with 197 visits. They now include three central North island towns - Bulls, Waiouru and Tokoroa - likely visited by people travelling from Auckland to Wellington by car before the lockdown on Monday.
Up until now they had only included Auckland, Wellington and the Coromandel.
The virus can continue to spread during lockdown, as has been seen in New South Wales, Ardern said.
Ardern said the 825 cases announced in NSW today was "devastating".
"Reduce down your public contact so we don't end up in a situation like NSW," Ardern urged.
"I want us to get back to levels of freedom," she said.
Ardern said prior to Delta you would not necessarily see whole households of positive cases being infected. However, with Delta this was not the case and accordingly it increased case numbers and projections for cluster numbers.
"There is always a balance to be struck," between getting locations of interest up quickly on the MOH site, and putting up wrong locations of interest that lead to an influx of people getting tested unnecessarily, Ardern said.
McElnay said people who are close contacts will have already been contacted by health officials before the new locations goes up on the locations of interest site. They are not waiting to see the locations for the first time on the Ministry of Health site.
Ardern said they are using people's banking transactions to jolt close contacts memory of the locations they have visited.
Ardern confirmed Jet Park Hotel is not at capacity.
Ardern said they were confident they could find places for positive cases if Jet Park reaches capacity.
Ardern said they had increased their ICU capacity since last year, and denied they had not adequately prepared for a Delta outbreak.
Ardern said "let's see what's possible" in terms of vaccination numbers, refusing to give a guarantee they can get to 65,000-odd vaccinations in a day.
"My simple message is please go and get vaccinated," Ardern said.
Yesterday, New Zealand saw the most Covid tests in a single day: 41464, Ardern said.
Ardern lauded the "record numbers" of testing.
"We need to test, test, test, to get an accurate picture of the virus," Ardern said.
There are 14 testing centres open across Auckland today.
In Wellington there are 6 testing centres, including 3 pop ups that arose overnight, Ardern said.
Over 40,000 tests yesterday across NZ is "extraordinary" Ardern said - which is in some sites is 10 times the normal demand.
"Huge thank you," to people who have waited a long time for tests, Ardern said, apologising for the long waits.
McElnay says she has complete confidence in infection control protocols at testing centres.
Ardern said she hopes people sanitise properly around using portaloos at testing centres and pop ups to prevent infection.
Not all of NZ's vaccination centres are yet back open under level 4, Ardern said, but there are new sites through medical clinics they have established.
Yesterday there were 11 new cases in the community, eight in Auckland, and three in Wellington - for a total of 31 cases overall.
Ardern also extended the alert level 4 lockdown nationwide until 11:59pm Tuesday August 24, bringing most of the country in line with Auckland and the Coromandel.
Ardern's message to NZ yesterday was to please check locations of interest – if you were there at the time and date get tested.
Anyone with cold and flu symptoms should get a test, she said.
If you're a contact please stay home and isolate, she urged.
"Everyone else should stay at home and stick to their bubble."
"You must wear a mask at dairies and supermarkets - and when you leave your home generally"
Wash your hands and scan in when you visit an essential service, she said.
"Even though we all want to block out the memory of 2020, we have been here before and we know the elimination strategy works."
"Everyone needs to play their part."
Education institutions report cases
Students at Auckland's De la Salle College and McAuley High School have also tested positive - and attended classes while infectious.
There are now five Auckland secondary schools affected by the outbreak - De la Salle College, McAuley High School, Avondale College, Northcote College and Lynfield College - with a combined student population of 7000.
Parents and caregivers of Auckland's De la Salle College and McAuley High School were also advised by letter of the news of the positive cases.
McAuley, in Ōtāhuhu, has roll of close to 800 and the student attended class while infectious on August 17.
As well as details of the new cases, the Delta outbreak has seen Kiwis rally to get tested - around 200 cars were already in line at the Henderson testing station as at 8am Saturday.
Testing at the Wairau Valley testing station appears to have been delayed this morning with one person saying a security guard cited a "technical issue" was to blame.
The Herald understands there were supply problems which delayed the centre from starting on time.
