Coronavirus: 82 new cases takes outbreak to 429

There are 82 new cases of COVID-19 in the community, the Ministry of Health says.

Saturday's update means the total number of cases associated with this outbreak sits at 429, of which 415 are in Auckland and 14 are in Wellington. The Wellington number didn't increase on Saturday.

Of the total, 376 have been clearly epidemiologically linked to another case or to a sub-cluster, while 53 are still having their links fully established. 

"Of these 82 new cases, 62 are Pacific peoples, five are Asian, four are European, two are Māori , one is Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and the ethnicity of eight is unknown," the Ministry of Health says.

There are seven sub-clusters, with the largest being the Mangere church cluster (197 cases), followed by the Birkdale social network cluster - (linked to Case A) - which has 64 cases.

The ministry says there are 31,757 contacts, of which 81 percent have had a test while many of the others are not yet due for one. 

"ESR has now run whole genome sequencing on samples taken from around 300 community cases. Analysis of these samples has determined they are all genomically linked to the current outbreak."

There are 25 cases in hospital, with two being in a stable condition in intensive care.

"One case is in North Shore Hospital, 11 are in Middlemore Hospital, 12 are in Auckland City Hospital, and one is in Wellington Regional Hospital," the Ministry of Health says.

"There are appropriate isolation and infection prevention and control plans in place at all hospitals where these patients are being managed."

The ministry says the health system capacity is "good", with occupancy at 75 percent and ICU occupancy at 58 percent.

There were 36,418 tests processed in New Zealand on Friday, with 14,500 taken in Auckland.

Regarding the positive case in Warkworth, a rest home worker at the Amberlea Home and Hospital Care Facility in Algies Bay, the Ministry of Health says all patients on the ward the staffer worked on while infectious have been tested.

Of the 13 swabs taken, 12 are negative and one is pending.

"Public health officials understand the worker is fully vaccinated and, along with other staff, adhered to strict Alert Level 4 infection, prevention and control protocols, including wearing face coverings and other PPE."

There is one new case in managed isolation. Their travel history is yet to be confirmed.

"Since 1 January 2021, there have been 124 historical cases, out of a total of 1,205 cases.

"Our total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is 3,023."