New Zealand has reported eight new covid-19 cases, including seven residents, at an Auckland rest home, adding to one announced yesterday.
This was part of a jump to a record total of 160 new community cases reported today — 151 in Auckland, seven in Waikato and one each in Northland and Canterbury.
Following further testing at Edmonton Meadows rest home in Henderson, the seven residents and one staff member have been confirmed as having the virus, bringing the total number of cases at the home to nine, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The ministry said it was important to point out the home had high levels of vaccination among residents, and all staff are fully vaccinated.
All staff and residents have now been tested and will also receive day five and day 12 testing.
Auckland Regional Public Health staff are supporting the residents and staff at the privately owned facility.
At this stage, only one positive staff member has been required to stand down.
Investigation seeking source
An investigation has begun to try and find out the source of the infection.
The retirement village has been operating under alert level 3 guidelines for visitors, meaning people have only been able to visit the village on compassionate grounds.
Meanwhile, the focus today in Auckland remains on testing in areas identified as having higher positivity rates, where the risk of unidentified cases is higher.
Public health staff are asking people in the suburbs of Redvale, Rosedale, New Lynn, Wiri, Drury, Henderson and Manurewa with symptoms to get tested — no matter how mild their symptoms may be.
The advice is the same even if people are vaccinated.
There are 16 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland today. Up-to-date information on testing locations in Auckland, visit here.
There was no media briefing today. In a statement, the ministry said 95 of today’s cases were still to be linked and there had been 358 unlinked cases in the past 14 days.
There are 47 people in hospital, up from 37 yesterday. Two are in intensive care.
There are also two new cases at the border.
There were 125 new covid-19 cases in the community reported yesterday afternoon.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
