There are 71 new community cases of COVID-19; one case at the border; all in Auckland.

Auckland update
Auckland health officials continue to carry out asymptomatic workplace testing, to help rule out any undetected community spread. Both essential workers who work at Level 4 and people in workplaces that are permitted to operate under Alert Level 3, including construction, hospitality, education, retail workers and community healthcare workers are encouraged to be tested regularly.

Any groups already undertaking surveillance testing, such as workers crossing alert level boundaries or border workers, do not need to participate in this additional testing.

There are 20 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland today, some with extended hours. A full list of testing centres can be found on the Healthpoint website.
There are currently eight suburbs of interest, where people with or without symptoms are asked to get tested. They are:
· Clover Park
· Mângere
· Favona
· Manurewa
· Mount Wellington/Sylvia Park
· Henderson
· Papakura
· Red Beach

People who don’t have symptoms and get a one-off COVID-19 test for surveillance purposes do not need to isolate while they wait for their result.

Waikato update
Waikato DHB is setting up a pop-up testing centre in Te Awamutu today following a positive wastewater detection in the area. The testing site will operate from 2pm to 5pm today.

Waikato DHB Public Health staff are investigating whether the wastewater detection represents a new current case or an old case who may be shedding the virus. In the meantime, anyone in Te Awamutu who has COVID-19 symptoms or has visited a location of interest should get tested immediately.

COVID-19 was also detected in a sample from Raglan on Tuesday. This follows earlier detections from samples taken last week. Anyone in Raglan with symptoms or has been at a location of interest at the relevant time is being asked to get tested.

Two community cases in Waikato reported yesterday remain unlinked but some potential connections have been identified and investigations continue. Results of whole genome sequencing are expected tonight. Hamilton residents are encouraged to keep checking the Ministry’s website for any locations of interest.

Vaccination rates in Waikato remained high yesterday with 6,327 people getting a dose. There were 3,680 swabs taken in Waikato yesterday.

Northland testing and vaccination centres
In Northland, people are asked to keep checking the Ministry of Health website for locations of interest in the region.

Today there are seven community testing sites and eight community vaccination centres operating. Details of locations and operating hours can be found on the Healthpoint website.

3,464 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were given yesterday – 1,215 first doses and 2,249 second doses. To date, there have been more than 200,000 doses administered in Northland.

For testing, the region saw 2,125 covid tests completed yesterday, taking the total since 6 October to 9,582 tests.