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National | 1pm Update

27 new community cases; 'We expect to see fluctuations,' says Health Ministry

There are 27 new community cases to report today, up from 19 on Friday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement Saturday afternoon.

14 of these are household contacts, eight are known contacts and five are under investigation to determine how they are linked to the current outbreak, the ministry said.

The new cases are all in Auckland and bring the total number of cases in this current Delta outbreak to 1295.

"Due to the highly infectious nature of the Delta variant within households, we expect to see fluctuations in case numbers at this stage in the outbreak," the ministry said.

22 cases are in hospital, three in North Shore, 13 in Middlemore and six in Auckland Hospital. Three cases are in ICU or HDU.

The Health Ministry reports that 320,845 Māori have now received 1st doses of the Covid vaccine and 172,785 2nd doses.

Middlemore Hospital exposure event
Counties Manukau DHB has advised the ministry of a possible Covid-19 exposure event at Middlemore Hospital on Friday night.
 
A person presented to Middlemore Hospital's Emergency Department seeking treatment for issues unrelated to Covid-19.
 
"The patient answered no to all screening questions but, while in triage, clinical staff noted the patient was displaying a Covid-like symptom and took steps to investigate, isolate and test.
 
"The patient subsequently returned a positive Covid-19 result and was moved to a Covid-19 isolation ward at Middlemore Hospital.
 
"The patient was wearing a mask at all times in ED. All staff were wearing appropriate PPE and as such no staff members are required to stand down," the ministry said.