COVID-19: Sixty new cases, 19 unlinked to original outbreak

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield. Photo credit: Getty Images

The Ministry of Health has reported 60 community cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, 19 of which have yet to be linked to the original Auckland outbreak.

All of the new cases were found in Auckland apart from three in Waikato and the case in Bay of Plenty reported on Saturday night.

"The three new Waikato cases are linked to the initial Hamilton East case," the ministry said in a statement.

"Of the Auckland cases, 37 have known links to existing cases and 17 remain under investigation."

There have now been 1587 cases in the Delta outbreak.

Twenty of the latest COVID-19 cases were infectious in the community, the ministry said.

Ministry data shows there are 29 people in hospital with COVID-19, seven of whom are in intensive care.

The Waitemata District Health Board has also reported a person receiving treatment at North Shore Hospital's dialysis unit tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.

"Waitemata DHB says the person using dialysis was appropriately screened before coming to the unit and again on arrival at the unit," the health ministry said.

"The person became unwell during treatment and was swabbed and subsequently tested positive."