There are 23 new Covid-19 cases in the community on Saturday, all of which are in Auckland, The Ministry of Health has confirmed.
Saturday's Covid-19 update was provided in a press release from the Ministry of Health instead of the regular briefing with two officials in Wellington.
The total number of cases in the Delta outbreak is now 902, of which 289 have now recovered.
The figure is a spike after days of decreasing case numbers with Friday's new cases dropping to just 11.
However, the Ministry of Health says the rise in cases is expected.
"As we have said previously, some volatility is likely at this stage as we expect some changes in the numbers as day 5 and day 12 tests for contacts of cases are due, and we do further investigations of any new unlinked cases," the ministry said.
"This does serve as a strong reminder of the importance of following the Covid-19 Alert Level rules wherever you are, and to get tested if you have any symptoms or have been at a location of interest at the specified times."
The ministry added there is one case from the border.
It means New Zealand's total confirmed cases to date since the pandemic began is 3534.
The total number of unlinked cases currently sits at 36, of which nine are from Saturday's new cases.
Analysis of yesterday's 11 cases announced showed eight were infectious in the community while just three were in isolation.
There are currently 19 cases in hospital, all in the Auckland region; eight at Auckland Hospital, seven in Middlemore and four cases at North Shore. Four cases are in ICU.
Auckland's outbreak currently has eight identified sub-clusters with the two largest being the Mangere church group [375 cases] and the Birkdale social network [76].
Of the 38,142 contacts identified so far, approximately 87 per cent have been contacted and tested. The rest are being chased up by officials.
Another 64,775 vaccinations were administered yesterday, taking New Zealand's total to date to 4,229,000 of which 2,803,000 are first doses.
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