New Zealand has reported 21 new covid-19 community cases in the country today.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay gave an update on the covid-19 situation this afternoon
Three of the new cases are in the capital Wellington, while the rest are in Auckland.
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Dr McElnay said the total number of community cases linked to the current Auckland outbreak was now 51.
All cases have been or are being transferred to managed isolation facilities using strict infection prevention and control procedures, Dr McElnay said.
More than 5000 individual contacts have been identified and the Health Ministry expects that would grow and increase by another 5000 by the end of today.
Dr McElnay said covid-19 had been found in waste water testing in Warkworth, north of Auckland.
Hit two records
Ardern said New Zealand had hit two records yesterday, with the most number of vaccines and tests carried out.
There were 56,843 vaccines administered yesterday — the most in a single day. Ardern said 72 percent of NZers aged 40+ were either booked or have been vaccinated with at least one dose.
“This is great progress,” Ardern said.
More than 150,000 vaccination bookings were made yesterday.
Yesterday was also the day the most covid-19 tests were processed in a single day, with 41,464 tests completed.
“The fact we have achieved both these results on the same day is extraordinary and is exactly what we need to do to get on top of the outbreak and for the future,” she said.
There are 14 community testing stations open across Auckland today, Ardern said.
Several new locations of interest in Wellington have been announced today, as 21 new cases of Covid-19 were announced.
A second flight to Wellington and several petrol stations between Auckland and the capital have been also been added. https://t.co/rrIl2h0tzq
— RNZ (@radionz) August 21, 2021
Lockdown to continue
The Prime Minister yesterday announced the alert level 4 lockdown would continue until at least midnight Tuesday.
Since then, new cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed at the University of Auckland, a second student at the neighbouring Auckland University of Technology and two more Auckland schools.
In addition, the list of locations of interest has been growing.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters have clashed with police today in Melbourne, as a demonstration in the city’s CBD turned violent.
There were also protests and clashes with police in Sydney.https://t.co/big0HkOPIZ
— RNZ (@radionz) August 21, 2021
