There is a record 162 new Covid-19 cases in the community on Monday, made up of 156 in Auckland, five in Waikato and one in Northland, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
There were no new cases in Canterbury on Monday, with the region's tally remaining at five this outbreak, including one historical case.
Meanwhile, one of the new cases is a second staff member at Edmonton Meadows Care Home in Auckland's Henderson to come down with the virus.
The total number of cases related to the rest home is now 10.
The source of transmission at the facility remains unknown.
The Covid-19 modeller says Covid cases are too high to move out of the current Level 3 settings. (Source: Other)
"As we reported yesterday, two of the Covid-19 -positive residents are currently receiving appropriate ward-level care at North Shore Hospital," the ministry said.
"The care home continues to operate under Alert Level 3 guidelines for visitors, meaning people have only been able to visit the facility on compassionate grounds."
In Northland, the one new case brings the total in the region for this outbreak to 13, all of which are isolating at home with public health oversight.
Of the new Waikato cases, one is in Ngaruawahia, two are in Otorohanga and one is in Hamilton.
The fifth is a case in Otorohanga which was announced on Sunday but is officially being added to the tally on Monday. This case is still under investigation to determine any links to existing cases.
"Three of the other five cases today are known contacts already in isolation and the remaining case has now also been linked to existing cases," the ministry said.
The Prime Minister urged those who turned out in anti-lockdown protests to get vaccinated. (Source: Other)
So far, 70 of the new cases are linked to the current Delta outbreak, with the remaining 92 yet to be linked.
There remains 421 unlinked cases from the past 14 days.
The total number of cases in this Delta outbreak is now 3510, of which 1631 have recovered.
There are now 53 people with Covid-19 in hospital, down from 56 on Sunday, including three in intensive care or a high dependency unit.
There are 19 cases each at Auckland City Hospital and Middlemore Hospital, and 15 at North Shore Hospital.
The average age of people with Covid-19 in hospital is 47.
There are 3143 contacts linked to this outbreak, of which 76 per cent have been contacted and have received at least one test.
As of 10am on Monday, there were 408 locations of interest on the Ministry of Health's website, including five new exposure sites.
On Sunday, 19,135 Covid-19 tests were processed, including 7683 in Auckland.
In total, more than 4.11 million tests for Covid-19 have been processed since the pandemic began.
"The focus today in Auckland remains on testing in areas identified as having higher positivity rates, where the risk of unidentified cases is higher," the ministry said.
"Public health staff are asking people in the suburbs of Redvale, Rosedale, New Lynn, Wiri, Drury, Henderson and Manurewa with symptoms, even if they are mild symptoms, to get tested even if they are vaccinated.
"This testing will help to provide assurance that any undetected spread of Covid-19 in these communities is identified as quickly as possible."
As well, because of further Covid-19 detections in wastewater and the recently reported cases in Canterbury, the ministry said it was important that anyone, especially those in Christchurch with any symptoms, no matter how mild, gets tested.
"Covid-19 has been detected in two new wastewater samples collected in Christchurch on Friday, in the southern and eastern part of the city.
"One of these samples is likely the result of a known case living in the catchment area. Investigations are underway to establish any link to known cases for the second sample, including any recovered cases that have recently left MIQ."
Further samples are being taken, with results expected later this week.
On vaccines, 20,176 jabs were administered across the country on Sunday, made up of 4867 first doses and 15,303 second doses.
"There were more than 20,000 vaccines administered yesterday taking NZ’s vaccination rate to 88 per cent for first doses and 75 per cent for second doses representing 3,159,301 fully vaccinated New Zealanders," the ministry said.
"Getting vaccinated will help to stop you and your loved ones getting seriously ill and could save your life and theirs. If you haven’t been vaccinated, please get your first dose today."
In total, more than 6.86 million Covid-19 vaccinations have been administered in New Zealand to date.
There were also four new border cases to report on Sunday.
The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand is now 6233 since the pandemic began.
Monday's update comes after a previous record of 160 new community cases on Saturday, then 143 on Sunday.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will hold a press conference at 4pm which will be live on TVNZ1, 1News.co.nz and Facebook.
At the press conference it will be revealed whether any restrictions can be loosened in Auckland and parts of Waikato which are in Alert Level 3. The rest of the country is at Level 2.
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