A record 68 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the community today, bringing the total for the outbreak to 277.
And wastewater tests in Ōtautahi/ Christchurch on Saturday and Monday found traces of Covid-19, though it is not yet known if that is because of a case in a managed isolation hotel there.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters at the 1pm media briefing that, given the level of contagiousness with Delta, the numbers are expected.
Some 263 cases are in Tāmaki Makauraru and 14 are in Pōneke.
The number of contacts has risen again, with 24,402 contacts formally identified; 65 per cent have been followed up by contact tracers.
Some 1400 contact tracers are now working in call centres across the motu after a drive to train additional staff from government departments outside of Health.
More than 41,000 covid tests were processed yesterday and more than half of those were in Tāmaki.
Household transmission concerns
Neither Ardern nor Ministry of Health Ministry public health director Dr Caroline McElnay would be drawn on when New Zealand should expect case numbers to decrease.
The prime minister said the lockdown was having an impact but there were concerns about transmission within households.
Ardern said lockdown compliance had been good but the nation "cannot drop the ball". Case numbers were a daily reminder of this, she said.
The PM says there was another record day for vaccinations yesterday. And McElnay renewed her calls for whanau to be vaccinated.
McElnay says International research shows while those fully vaccinated can become infected by Covid-19, the likelihood of that "is dramatically reduced."
She said the severity of symptoms was lowered after vaccination.
Ardern told media the goal was to move away from measures such as lockdown but that experts believed the elimination strategy is still the best plan for the country.
The battle of Covid-19 is not over, and won't be for quite some time,” she said. “The most important thing to do to avoid lockdown is to get vaccinated."