There are 41 new community cases today, 40 in Auckland and one in the Waikato.

As at 10am, 20 of these cases are linked, 13 of which are household contacts and 21 remain unlinked with investigations continuing to help determine their connection to the current outbreak.

Waikato update
There is one new positive COVID-19 case to report from the Waikato outbreak. The case is a household member of two existing cases and is already in a quarantine facility in Auckland.

Waikato DHB is continuing to carry out regionwide testing, to help rule out any undetected community spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, vaccination rates in Waikato remained high yesterday with 5,789 people receiving a dose – of these, 1,591 were first doses, and a further 4,198 were second doses.

Northland update
There was a steady number of tests – 1,593, completed in Northland yesterday; and demand for vaccinations was strong too, with 2,101 doses administered in total – of these 719 were first doses and 1,382 were second doses.

Locations of testing sites in various regions around the country are available on the Healthpoint website.

Woman connected to Northland pair in quarantine
An Auckland woman associated with the two women who travelled to Northland has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in an Auckland quarantine facility.

She was in Northland with the other two women.

Public health officials have determined she wasn’t infectious while she was in Northland between 2-8 October.

Her infectious period has been determined as beginning after she returned to Auckland.

Three household contacts and two other contacts have been identified by public health officials. These contacts follow a visit to a private home in Auckland and shared transport to the testing centre.

Wastewater results
There continues to be positive COVID-19 detections in wastewater samples taken from Raglan. This reflects known cases in the area who have been granted exemptions to isolate at home. However, symptomatic locals are encouraged to please get tested.

There have also been positive detections in wastewater from Beachlands and Pukekohe. These followed earlier detections at both sites on 8 October. People in these areas with symptoms are also asked to please get tested.

People in Wellsford are urged to get tested after two positive detections in wastewater samples. Further samples are currently being analysed. There are testing stations open today at both Wellsford and Warkworth, and a pop-up testing centre is expected to open on Monday in Mangawhai.