The number of new cases has dropped for the second day in a row as most of New Zealand prepares to move to Level 3, Marc Daalder reports
There are 49 new community cases in New Zealand today, marking the second day in a row that the daily case count has dropped.
The new cases, all in Auckland, bring the Delta outbreak to 612 cases in total. Of these, 33 are hospitalised, including eight in intensive care, two of whom are being ventilated.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Level 3 would now involve mandatory masking in any business where workers interact with the public, including supermarkets, butchers and greengrocers, takeaways and petrol stations.
Among the golden rules for Level 3, Ardern said: "Stay at home, keep bubbles small, exercise and shop locally, keep your distance from people. Continue working from home if possible, keep children and young people at home."
Travel across the boundary south of Auckland will be strictly curtailed and everyone crossing the border will need documentation showing they're allowed to. This is the first time that part of the country has been at Level 4 while other parts have been at a lower level.
Bloomfield confirmed that a fully vaccinated staff member at Spring Hill prison in the Waikato had tested positive for Covid-19. He said 23 other Corrections staff who were close contacts of the case were now isolating and prisoners in the unit where the case worker had been segregated from others.
New cases continue to be mostly linked to households and to be in isolation for their infectious periods. This data is reported on a one-day lag to allow contact tracers to complete their interviews with every new case. Of the 53 new cases reported Monday, two-thirds were household contacts of another Covid-19 case. Just under a quarter of Monday's cases were in the community during their infectious period.
Out of all 612 cases, 51 are still not epidemiologically linked to the cluster. From Tuesday's new cases, 19 were unlinked, meaning 32 of the unlinked cases predated the latest case count. Ardern said 10 of the unlinked cases were from more than six days ago.
Just under 17,000 tests were processed across the country on Monday.
Wastewater samples taken from across Christchurch on Thursday and Sunday have returned negative results. Earlier samples had tested positive but Bloomfield had said this could have been due to active cases in MIQ in the city.
Daily vaccinations dropped slightly on Monday, to 76,354. Last week, daily totals had mostly been in excess of 80,000 doses, but the Government is now warning it may have to reduce demand if it can't get more supply.
Ardern also opened the press conference by addressing the flooding in West Auckland, urging people to prioritise their safety above the Level 4 protocols. There are exemptions in the Level 4 rules for emergencies like this.
