More Than 18,000 Vaccine Doses Administered Yesterday; 178 Cases; 77 People In Hospital - 8 People In ICU

There were 18,623 first and second vaccine doses administered yesterday, made up of 6,600 first doses and 12,023 second doses. To date, 92% of eligible people in New Zealand have had their first dose and 84% are fully vaccinated.

As at 10.30am today, more than 1,890,000 requests for a My Vaccine Pass have been processed.

You can request a My Vaccine Pass from the website.

The My Vaccine Pass 0800 number continues to receive an unprecedented volume of calls. On average it has been receiving 30,000 calls a day.

We ask people to continue to be patient. There is plenty of time to get a pass, and if people can’t get through immediately we ask they try again later. As of late yesterday, wait times were averaging less than 10 minutes for My Vaccine Pass.

As a result of system changes overnight Wednesday, waiting times have reduced and more improvements are being worked on today, including shifting more staff into technical support for the My Health Account and My COVID Records and hours on the technical lines being extended to 8pm.

Face to face options will also be available soon. 
 

New cases identified at the border

*These cases were in a travel bubble together

Death of a patient with COVID-19

Sadly, today we are reporting the COVID-19-related death of a patient at Auckland City Hospital yesterday afternoon.

The patient, who was in their late 50s, was admitted to Auckland City Hospital on 5 November 2021.

Our thoughts are with the patient’s whānau and friends at this deeply sad time.

Today’s cases

Today we are announcing new community cases in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes and MidCentral.

There are no additional cases to report today in Wairarapa, Wellington Canterbury or Hawke’s Bay.

Two previously reported community cases have been reclassified to ’not a case’ and so the net increase is 176 community cases.

Information on today’s cases is included in the regional updates below. Anyone living in these areas, or elsewhere in New Zealand, with symptoms, no matter how mild, is urged to get tested – even if they are vaccinated – and remain isolated until they return a negative result. A full list of testing centres can be found on the

Healthpoint website

.

Regional updates

We’re asking anyone in the following regions with symptoms – no matter how mild – to please get tested, even if you’re vaccinated. Please remain isolated until you return a negative test result. And if you’re not vaccinated, your DHB or local health provider will have plenty of opportunities to make this happen.

Northland

There are two cases being reported in Northland today, one linked case in Whangārei and one unlinked case in Ruakaka.

In response to the Ruakaka case, a pop up testing site is opening this afternoon at the Ruakaka Racecourse.

The pop-up site is open at the following times:

2.30pm until 6pm today

9am until 3pm tomorrow

9am until 3pm Saturday

10am until 2pm Sunday

9am until 3pm Monday

We encourage anyone living in or near Ruakaka with any symptoms that could be COVID-19 to get a test.

Further testing and vaccination sites open in Northland can be found on the

Northland DHB

website.

Auckland

Today, there are 149 new cases to report in Auckland.

There continues to be daily reviews of testing numbers and testing locations to ensure good coverage of risk areas.

Health staff are now supporting 4,211 people to isolate at home around Auckland - this includes 1,172 cases.

Waikato

There are 16 news cases being reported in Waikato today. Eight are in Te Kūiti, five in Huntly and three in Kawhia. All cases are linked to known cases.

One case reported yesterday has now been confirmed as being in Piopio, south-west of Te Kūiti.

There are seven pop-up and dedicated testing sites operating across Waikato today in Hamilton, Ōtorohanga, Thames, Huntly, Ngāruawāhia and Te Kūiti.

In the Waikato region, health staff are now supporting 144 cases to isolate at home.

Bay of Plenty

Today we are reporting 9 new cases today in the Bay of Plenty, all in the Tauranga area.

Six of the cases are known close contacts and were already in isolation. Interviews with the remaining cases are underway to determine the source of their infection.

A case announced yesterday in Eastern Bay of Plenty is self-isolating and being supported by Tuhoe Hauora.

Following the detection of the Eastern Bay of Plenty case, additional testing is available at the Nukuhou North Settlers until 4pm today.

Testing will also be available at Med Central in Whakatâne today from 9am-4pm.

Further information on testing in the region will be updated on the Bay of Plenty DHB website.

The spread of COVID-19 in the Bay of Plenty is another reminder to get tested if you’re feeling unwell and to get your first dose of the vaccine if you haven’t already.

Lakes

There is one new case to report, based in Rotorua.

There is good testing capacity across the region with dedicated community testing centres in Taupō, and Rotorua. See healthpoint.co.nz

for locations and opening times. Testing is also available at a number of medical centres and Hauora Māori.

MidCentral

Today, we are reporting one new case of COVID-19 in Pahīatua, bringing the total number cases in the region to five.

It comes after multiple wastewater detections of the virus from samples taken in Pahīatua in the past fortnight.

The latest case is now self-isolating, with investigations into the source of the infection underway. So far, initial case interviews have identified a small number of household contacts, who are isolating with tests arranged

Case interviews have also determined seven initial locations of interest across and Pahīatua and Palmerston North. These have been added to the Ministry’s website

As further locations of interest are expected people in the MidCentral region, particularly in Pahīatua, are asked to monitor the locations of interest page.

Testing is available at:

· 46 Main Street, Pahīatua. Open until 3pm today

· Pahīatua Medical Centre, Main Street and Centre Street. Open until 3pm today

· 575 Main St, Palmerston North. Open 8am to 6pm weekdays, and 10am to 2pm weekends.

Testing is also available at GP and Urgent Care clinics. Additional testing capacity in the area will be stood up, if required, and details will be available on the

Healthpoint website.

We are also calling for people to get vaccinated, with many sites available across the region. Vaccination clinic locations are available on theMidCentral DHB website.

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