Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for September 11. Auckland is currently at alert level four, the rest of NZ level two.
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1.30pm: The delta outbreak, in summary
Today’s uptick in case numbers is reflected in today’s graph. After a few days of gradual decline, today’s total of 23 new delta cases has create an unwelcome new feature at the right hand of the chart.
Here’s a look at how we’re tracking.
1.00pm: 23 new community cases, 9 currently unlinked
The Ministry of Health has provided the following information via email:
There are 23 new community Covid-19 cases today, bringing the total number in the delta outbreak up to 902. Four people are currently in intensive care.
All of the new cases are in Auckland.
Eight of yesterday's 11 cases were infectious while in the community, said the Ministry of Health. The remaining three were already in self-isolation.
Of today's cases, nine are yet to be epidemiologically linked – meaning officials have not yet been able to find how they connect to the wider outbreak.
Overall, 36 cases from the outbreak can still not be linked.
There are still eight subclusters that are epidemiologically linked, with the two largest still the Māngere church group with 375 cases and the Birkdale social network cluster with 76. In addition, there are nine subclusters that are currently epidemiologically unlinked.
Of the 38,142 confirmed contacts of Covid-19 cases, 87% have received a call from contact tracers to confirm testing and self-isolation requirements. 92% of contacts have already received at least one test.
There are now 140 locations of interest, including some new locations added earlier today which were all located in South Auckland.
On the testing front, an impressive 15,241 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, with just over 7196 of them in Auckland.
In the past 24 hours 64,775 doses of vaccine were administered, including 20,987 second doses.
Yesterday was another exceptional day for the NZ Covid Tracer app, with more than 2.6 million scans recorded in the 24 hours to midday Friday.
12.20pm: MIQ worker tests positive for Covid
A MIQ worker at Auckland's Holiday Inn quarantine facility tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, the Ministry of Health has confirmed. The positive case was included in Tuesday's Covid-19 update.
"An investigation to determine the source of the worker's infection is under way," a ministry spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said officials investigating the case have not yet identified any clear evidence of in-facility transmission. The worker is fully vaccinated, had been regularly tested and is now isolating in a quarantine facility.
Early in the current outbreak the Holiday Inn facility near Auckland Airport was repurposed for people needing to isolate who couldn't do so at home.
A paid message from our partner Te Taura Whiri/ the Māori Language Commission: Join us in celebrating te reo Māori at 12pm on Tuesday 14 September. Sign yourself and your workplace, whānau and flatmates up to our Māori Language Moment. Kia kaha te reo Māori, kia kaha Aotearoa!
10.00am: Stephen Colbert delights in hospital sex romp
Late-night host Stephen Colbert last night returned to one of his favourite subjects: New Zealand, a place so small that the prime minister gets asked for her views on a hospital patient discovered sex.
Colbert: "They have sex at the Auckland hospital? We have got to get socialised medicine in this country."
Watch the full clip here:
9.20am: 'A day I'll never forget': prime minister marks 20th anniversary of 9/11
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern has released a statement "expressing unity with all victims, families and loved ones affected by the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, and all terrorist attacks around the world since, including in New Zealand".
“I was in the United States on 9/11, and it’s a day I’ll never forget. I still have the front pages of the newspapers from that time because it instantly felt like a moment from which everything would change," she said.
“I saw first hand the shock and fear that goes hand in hand with terrorism."
She noted that New Zealand had seen similar motivations in the March 15 attacks.
“That experience is why New Zealand has chosen to play a leading role in tackling online violent extremism," she said.
“Ultimately our greatest defence against terrorism is to build diverse, inclusive societies in which we welcome and celebrate difference and where violent extremist ideologies of any kind are rejected.
“As the Imam of Al Noor mosque recently said in response to our most recent terror attack, all terrorists are the same, regardless of their ideology, they stand for hate and we all stand for peace and love. May that be a legacy we all work hard to continue."
9.10am: New locations of interest added
The Ministry of Health has this morning added another four new locations of interest, all in South Auckland. The earliest visit was on September 3 and the latest on September 8, and the locations include superettes, a vegetable store and a laundry. All four new additions, along with some updates to existing locations of interest, can be viewed on our locations on interest page (select 'today' to view the latest updates)
8.45am: 'Come on down to the drive through': Weekend mass vaccination events ready for crowds
Even more spaces will be made available at Auckland's mass vaccination centres today, reports RNZ, as those who were vaccinated at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau at the end of July come due for their second shot.
Those people have received invites to attend this weekend's mass events at the Airport Park and Ride in Māngere or Trusts Arena in Henderson, both of which are drive-through. Northern Region Health Coordination Centre vaccination programme lead Matt Hannant said both sites are well equipped for the expected surge.
"We've got more people working in the cold chain, more vaccinators and more of the folk who greet people and look after them when they're driving around the centre," he said.
Airport Park and Ride is also accepting bookings for first doses and Hannant said there are still plenty of spaces. "A key message from us is if you haven't had your first dose, come on down to the drive through. We'd be really pleased to see you down there," he said.
Meanwhile the mass vaccination event catering for Auckland's Tongan community is in its second day at the Free Wesleyan Church Of Tonga in Favona.
The aim was to vaccinate up to 600 people a day, but that goal has been smashed, according to Pacific Response Co-ordination Team chair Pakilau Manase Lua.
No bookings are necessary at any of today's mass vaccination events.
Yesterday's numbers
- There were 11 new Covid-19 cases in the community, all in Auckland.
- There were 27 people in hospital, four in the ICU.
- Auckland will remain in alert level four until at least Tuesday.