There are 2522 new Covid-19 community cases in New Zealand on Sunday, the Ministry of Health has announced.
This is the first time case numbers have exceeded the 2000 mark.
The cases are in Northland (41), Auckland (1799), Waikato (188), Bay of Plenty (86), Lakes (11), Hawke’s Bay (24), MidCentral (13), Whanganui (2), Taranaki (9), Tairāwhiti (12), Wairarapa (14), Capital and Coast (54), Hutt Valley (25), Nelson Marlborough (53), Canterbury (76), South Canterbury (1) and Southern (111).
The locations for three of the cases are unknown.
There are 13,785 active cases in the community, and 100 people are in hospital with the virus. No one is an intensive care or high dependency unit.
Seventeen cases at the border were also announced on Sunday. Four of them are historical cases.
A total of 27,825 cases were carried out in the last 24 hours.
Rapid antigen testing
The ministry also announced rapid antigen tests will be made available at Auckland testing sites from Monday morning.
They will be available to "those who fit the appropriate clinical criteria". The ministry said each testing site will determine which test — PCR or rapid antigen — is best.
"As the outbreak grows more people will have Covid and there will be more close contacts we need to test. As planned we will now increase the use of RATs in Phase 2 and Phase 3 of our response in order to relieve pressure on the PCR testing and reserve it for those most likely to have Covid," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said only people with Covid-19 symptoms, who have been identified as close contacts of a case, or directed by a health professional, should be turning up at testing sites.
The ministry provided some "important points" for the public to be aware of:
- People who are directed to have a rapid antigen test will be given advice on what to do if they have a positive result. At the current time, they will likely be advised that they need to have a PCR test to confirm the positive result.
- Rapid antigen tests are not as accurate as PCR tests at identifying someone early in their illness so if you have a negative rapid antigen test result and symptoms start to develop, you may need to have another test.
- This is also why it is so important that if you are unwell, you must stay home regardless of the test result, which will also help reduce the spread of other viruses.
- Rapid antigen tests will initially be available in Auckland, as we continue to widen access in other high-demand centres around New Zealand. We will provide updates on this rollout over the coming week.
- We have good stocks of RATs (7.3 million) to support the public health response, with a continual supply arriving by airfreight.
On Saturday, 1901 community cases were announced.
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