Coronavirus: Two new COVID-19 cases in the community reported on Sunday

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay said on Sunday there were two new cases of COVID-19 to report in the community outbreak.

Both have been linked to the wider Auckland cluster.

One is a household contact of a Finance Now employee who previously tested positive

The other linked to the known case in Tokoroa - a healthcare worker who tested negative after being initially exposed on August 17, but positive in a second test.

The medical centre has been closed while it's deep-cleaned. Protective gear was being worn.

"We still do have cases coming through, we do expect that will continue," Ardern said at the 1pm briefing.

There are now 10 people in hospital with COVID-19 - two in Auckland, three in Middlemore, three in North Shore, two in Waikato. Eight are on wards, two in ICU.

So far 2587 close contacts have been identified and 2475 of those reached and in isolation.

There are 137 cases at present - 20 at the border and 117 in the community. The total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic is 1378.

All the cases in the Auckland cluster are genomically linked, Ardern said. The one that wasn't - a case picked up off a returnee at the Rydges hotel - didn't spark a new cluster as it was contained. 

The starting point for the outbreak has now been traced back to the Americold site in Mt Wellington, Ardern said, adding that if there was a case before that one, it hasn't been found.

No links between the cluster and isolation facilities has been discovered. 

More than 750,000 tests have now been carried out, with another 10,487 done on Saturday.

Earlier on Sunday, Minister of Health Chris Hipkins said Auckland would join the rest of the country at alert level 2 on Monday, despite new cases still being picked up. 

"We're still ploughing ahead with level 2 today," he told Magic Talk's Road to the Election.

"The key thing for us is looking at that cluster - are all the cases within the cluster, are they known and identified? The evidence so far is yes, they are."

Ardern said it was always anticipated the city would return to level 2 while new cases were still being found.

"Our system is good - it's designed to keep us on track with our elimination strategy under level 2, but it will only work if people follow the guidance."

She went on to say Auckland's kind of at "level 2.5", with slightly stricter rules than the rest of the country. 

"No gathering can be larger than 10 - I cannot stress how important this is." 

She said most of the new infections had come from social gatherings. 

The Government has also called on people in west and south Auckland to get tested regardless of whether they are presenting symptoms.