There are 147 new Covid-19 cases in the community on Wednesday - 131 in Auckland, 14 in Waikato and two in Northland - as well as a third self-isolating death in Auckland, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has confirmed.
Bloomfield gave the updated figures at the 1pm briefing alongside Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins in Wellington.
Bloomfield began his address by confirming the "sudden death" of a man in his 60s who had Covid-19 and was self-isolating in his Glen Eden home in Auckland.
"The cause of his death will be determined by the coroner, including whether it may have been Covid-19 related," Bloomfield said.
"Our thoughts are with this man’s whānau and friends at this stressful time."
It comes after Auckland shifted to Step 2 of Alert Level 3 on Wednesday which saw retailers able to reopen with safety measures in place.
The total number of cases in this Delta outbreak is now 4813.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield gave the latest update in Wellington. (Source: 1News)
Of the 147 new cases, 63 of the cases are yet to be linked to a current case.
The Ministry of Health currently has 4,570 contacts linked to this outbreak, of which 75 per cent have been contacted and 71 per cent have received at least one test.
There are currently a record 81 cases in hospitals; 22 in Middlemore Hospital, 32 in Auckland Hospital, 26 in North Hospital and one case in Waitakere Hospital. 11 of those cases are in ICU or HDU.
On Tuesday, 27,957 tests for Covid-19 were processed throughout the country, including 13,423 from Auckland.
In total there has been more than 4.3 million tests for the virus processed since the pandemic began.
On vaccinations, 22,178 doses were administered on Tuesday, made up of 5,103 first doses and 16,089 second doses. To date, 89 per cent of New Zealanders aged over 12 years have had their first dose and 79 per cent are fully vaccinated.
More than 7.1 million doses have been administered in New Zealand to date.
There was also two new Covid-19 cases found at the border on Wednesday.
More to come.
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