Covid 19 Delta outbreak: 20 new cases as Aucklanders on lockdown cling to hope

There are 20 new cases of Covid-19 in the community – although only one is unrelated as Aucklanders cling to hopes of a change in alert level on Monday.

Nineteen of the new cases are family or known contacts.

Discussions were underway with the unrelated case to determine how they were exposed, the health ministry said in a statement.

He said he expected fluctuations in the number of cases at this point in the outbreak.

Aucklanders were hoping for low numbers this weekend, before the government decided on Monday whether the region can move to Alert Level 3.

The ministry said testing at high levels in Auckland “remains an essential part of our response to the outbreak to detect every community case and stop transmission.”

“We continue to urge anyone in Auckland with symptoms of a cold or flu, however mild, to get tested,” the ministry said.

“In addition, people with and without symptoms who live in a suburb of interest are invited to take a test. These are: Mt Eden, Massey, Māngere, Favona, Papatoetoe, Ōtara, Manurewa.”

There are 10 people hospitalized, including three in intensive care or in HDU.

Seven of the 11 cases yesterday had exposure events. Four of yesterday’s cases were isolated while they were infectious.

There are seven cases in the past 14 days that have not been linked to other known cases.

There are currently 142 places of interest.

And there are nine epidemiologically linked sub-clusters, according to the ministry.

“Of these, one is active, seven are confined and one is dormant. The three largest subgroups are the Māngere religious group: 384; and Birkdale Social Network Group: 80; secondary community transmission associated with the Māngere religious group 166.

“There are 10 epidemiologically unrelated sub-clusters.

“A number of clusters are no longer of concern as we are not seeing any new positive cases within them,” the ministry said.

“Every cluster that remains interesting could be seen as a big bubble, the majority being tightly knit groups of households. There was good communication and engagement with these household groups.

“The additional reports will now include the number of active, contained, dormant or closed sub-clusters, based on the time since the last case associated with the sub-cluster was reported, and factors such as whether the was a member of the household. This helps us determine the risk associated with each subgroup. “

Good news, there was no detection of Covid-19 in a wastewater sample collected on September 14 in Snells / Agies.

It is likely that this early detection came from known cases in the region, the ministry said.
Recovered cases may continue to shed viral material for weeks after their recovery.

There have now been 1,010 community-based Covid cases in Auckland during the current outbreak, of which 625 have now recovered.

There were also 17 other cases in Wellington, 16 of which have recovered.

The Herald and NZME have launched a campaign, The project 90%, to work for at least 90% full vaccination against Covid-19 in our eligible population by Christmas.

Meanwhile, a Covid-19 modeling expert believes lockdown fatigue may require an alert level change in Auckland next week, even if it risks fueling Delta’s slow-burning embers.

University of Auckland professor Shaun Hendy said Cabinet would be forced to balance the risk of further transmission with the consequences of the extended lockdown when it meets on Monday.

“You could persist at level 4 and eliminate that, I’m pretty sure you would,” Hendy the Herald said yesterday.

“On the other hand, everyone is a little above level 4, people need a little light at the end of the tunnel … it’s probably worth taking a calculated risk.”

However, while the exit from the confident lockdown would not be immediately catastrophic, Hendy said easing restrictions while the virus circulated in the community could have consequences.

“If we still see a coherent community transmission, then by going to [level] 3, you just gave [transmission] the opportunity to accelerate.

“If you accept that we may have to go back to level 4 in October, going to level 3 is a low risk option.”

Yesterday, Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay said there was “cautious optimism” that the vast majority of the outbreak had been contained, despite eight of the outbreak’s active cases failing to had no epidemiological link yet, including the case identified at Middlemore Hospital on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said yesterday testing rates had been very good this week, but the government would not set a figure on what was needed to move alert levels.

“We absolutely appreciate that the Aucklanders got through five weeks of this, and it’s tough, and we thank Aucklanders for it.

“Keep the faith … what we did under Alert Level 4 worked.”

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