There are 7 new cases of Covid-19, Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield has revealed.
All are in the community - there are no cases in managed isolation.
Six cases are linked to the Auckland cluster - one case is being investigated.
That is in addition to the one that was being investigated yesterday.
Bloomfield was confident both cases were linked to the cluster
There are 56 active cases in New Zealand, 37 are in the community.
Thirty-five of the community spread cases have been linked to the same cluster, two are still under investigation but are believed to be linked to the cluster as well, he said.
| Date notified of potential case | Sex | Age group | DHB | Overseas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15/08/2020 | Female | 60 to 69 | Auckland | No |
| 15/08/2020 | Male | 15 to 19 | Counties Manukau | No |
| 15/08/2020 | Female | 20 to 29 | Waitematā | No |
| 14/08/2020 | Female | 15 to 19 | Auckland | No |
| 14/08/2020 | Female | 30 to 39 | Auckland | No |
| 14/08/2020 | Female | 40 to 49 | Auckland | No |
| 14/08/2020 | Male | 40 to 49 | Auckland | No |
Some 1090 close contacts have been identified, linked to the cluster - 934 have been contacted so far - and 86 per cent of close contacts have been contacted.
The two Tokoroa cases have been transferred to Auckland and their families are in isolation.
All residents of the Morinsville rest home have all also returned negative results.
So far, 1.6 million mask have been dispatched across community groups.
There have been 100 requests for people to leave Auckland's borders - 45 have been confirmed, Bloomfield said.
The Government is working with officials from Japan and Belgium, in terms of two now-Covid-19 positive people who had been in New Zealand. Bloomfield said both people were "low risk".
He thanked everyone who had come forward to be tested.
But he said there have been reports of online abuse, directed those who have tested positive for Covid-19.
"To say that's a pity is an understatement."
Hipkins said this was "disappointing and dangerous"
He said people need to be able to come forward for testing without worrying about online abuse.
Hipkins said there have been no positive testing at the border in the last few days.
He said by Monday, all front line staff would have been tested.
Some far, 583 staff in isolation have been tested. That is 980 for all airport staff and 270 maritime staff have been tested.
There were 23,000 tests yesterday - that's 49,700 tests since Tuesday,
| Date | Tests per day | Total tests (cumulative) |
| 12-Aug | 6006 | 508711 |
| 13-Aug | 15703 | 524414 |
| 14-Aug | 23846 | 548260 |
Hipkins thanked everyone who was involved in the testing process.
He said some tests might take up to 48 hours to be tested - this is because of the volume of testing.
He asked people to be patient as they await their test results.
On the testing of Jet Park employees, Hipkins said the focus is on responding on the outbreak.
"That is what we want everyone focused on."
"We make every effort to verify that information," he said, of testing of front line staff.
Hipkins said he was not aware of reports that a fire alarm had gone off at the Jet Park hotel.
But he said he would look into it.
Bloomfield said there were protocols in place to ensure people don't mix.
He said there had been testing at the Americold cold store today.
In this outbreak, most people with Covid-19 are of Pacific and Māori descent. Hipkins said "everybody will be treated the same."
Bloomfield said local iwi have been very involved in working with the Tokoroa cases.
The vast majority of transmission happens in households, Bloomfield said.
He added the Government is doing all it can to support families.
In terms of the one "likely" linked case today, Bloomfield said the information arrived quite late today so officials could not yet definitively say it was linked to the Auckland cluster.
But Bloomfield was pretty sure it was linked.
On face mask price gouging, Hipkins called on people to report that behaviour.
