Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a new deal with Denmark for 500,000 more doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield were giving an update on the Covid-19 situation this afternoon.
The new vaccines are set to arrive in the country in the coming week.
Earlier this week about 250,000 doses arrived from Spain, enabling the rollout to continue to meet the current surge in demand - though vaccination numbers have dropped off in the last week.
Ardern said the Denmark deal will bolster the vaccine rollout for the rest of the month, ahead of the large planned shipments in October.
"Combined the Denmark and the Spain deals leave us in the strongest position possible to vaccinate at pace. There is now nothing holding us back."
Ardern pointed to the United States, where hospitals were heavily dominated by the unvaccinated.
"We know the vaccine helps break chains of transmission. People have been getting vaccinated for those around them, those they love," she said.
She said 500,000 Aucklanders are now fully vaccinated. The city is the centre of the Delta outbreak and is in level 4 lockdown, while the rest of the country has moved down to level 2.
"Thank you Auckland, and keep it up. You are doing the very best you can do right now to avoid future scenarios like the one we are in."
20 new community cases
There were 20 new community cases reported today - all in Auckland - and three in managed isolation.
The total number of cases in the Delta outbreak now stands at 922, including 352 that have recovered.
Eighteen people are in Auckland hospitals, including four in intensive care or a high dependency unit.
The total number of cases in New Zealand is 3557 since the pandemic began.
Cabinet is meeting tomorrow to consider any changes to alert levels with Auckland currently at alert level 4 until 11.59pm on Tuesday and the rest of New Zealand at alert level 2.
Ardern began today's briefing by acknowledging "how hard it is when numbers jump around as they have been doing in the last few days".
But with health authorities aware of where the vast majority of our cases are coming from, "our general direction is positive, and our goals remain the same".
She said she did not want to speculate on advice regarding a lowering of alert levels.
"We're making it based on the best information possible."
Yesterday there were 23 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the community in New Zealand, more than double the amount reported on Friday when 11 cases were reported.
Our hospitals are safe: Bloomfield
The Ministry of Health issued a statement last night stating that three people who presented to Middlemore Hospital this week have tested positive for Covid-19. Those cases follow two other cases that were connected to the hospital in recent days.
Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said no staff or patients have returned a positive test following the three community cases announced last night.
The person who tested positive at Middlemore Hospital last weekend has nine other family members who have tested positive, providing a clear link to the wider outbreak, he said.
"I just want to emphasise the importance of anyone who needs care for any reason to seek that care. I want to reassure people that our hospitals are safe."
Bloomfield said the total number of unlinked cases in the outbreak is 34, with eight of those among today's cases.
There are 16 subclusters in the current outbreak, and seven are considered contained. Six are contained among family and household transmission. Of yesterday's 23 cases, 11 are household contacts of other cases.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said he did not expect that Monday's announcement would indicate a change to the alert level for the city given rise in the number of Covid cases at the weekend.
- RNZ and ODT Online
