The Ministry of Health has provided an update on new cases in the community, saying of the 35 cases 21 are yet to be epidemiologically linked.
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Two staff members have now returned positive results for Covid following a positive case reported yesterday in a patient receiving treatment in the dialysis unit adjacent to North Shore Hospital.
Two Auckland City Hospital workers have also tested positive after a fully vaccinated staff member tested positive at the weekend.
Auckland City Hospital is now carrying out testing onsite for staff and patients linked to the staff member who has tested positive for Covid. Initial investigations show there are no links to the NICU parent who tested positive for Covid last week.
The 35 new cases includes the one case linked to the Bay of Plenty region, however this is under investigation after the person's second test was negative.
There are 33 people in hospitals today - North Shore (5); Middlemore (16); Auckland (9); Starship Hospital (1); Waikato Base Hospital (1) and Palmerston North Hospital (1). Seven patients are in intensive care or high-dependency units.
Almost of half of yesterday's cases - 28 - were in isolation while considered infectious.
There were 42,226 Covid-19 vaccines administered yesterday, made up of 9083 first doses and 33,143 second doses.
Northland Covid traveller
The Northland case has been linked to the Auckland outbreak but the exact cluster is yet to be identified.
More work is being done on this.
The Northland woman who tested positive for Covid remains in an Auckland quarantine facility.
A second person who is thought to have travelled with this case has been contacted but not yet located.
Public health staff are continuing to work closely with the person to determine any locations of interest or exposure events associated with the case. There are currently 21 close contacts associated with this case including the elusive travel companion.
Almost 4,000 Covid tests have been carried out in Northland over the past four days.
Alert level decision
Then at 4pm the post-Cabinet press conference will feature Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
Aucklanders will be updated on whether or not they can move into phase two of the Government's three-step plan to ease level 3 restrictions in the city.
Cabinet is also reviewing restrictions for Northlanders - who are at alert level 3 until Wednesday - and Waikato residents, under alert level 3 restrictions until midnight tonight.
Daily cases in Auckland and Waikato continue to climb while contact tracers scramble to determine the exact movements of an infected person who travelled across Northland, who is not complying with authorities.
It was also revealed today that there are three Covid cases inside Auckland's Mt Eden prison.
The New Zealand Herald has confirmed there were two inmates who had been placed in the prison's dedicated "Echo" wing - then a third infected person arrived at the remand prison at the weekend.
There were almost 100 new cases in the community over the weekend - 34 on Saturday and 60 on Sunday, including 56 in Auckland and three in Waikato. One person living near Katikati who was reported to be infected has now returned a negative test.
A total of 61 per cent of Saturday's cases were infectious in the community and 19 out of yesterday's 60 new cases were yet to be epidemiologically linked.
The Herald understands a Covid-19 case recovering in hospital in Palmerston North is an Auckland truck driver who tested positive and has been isolating. He is among 26 people battling the virus in hospital, and seven of those are in ICU.
But Health Minister Andrew Little told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning that he expected numbers to "look better" today.
Meanwhile, Ardern said a Covid-positive person who travelled to Northland remains unco-operative with authorities about their movements, despite police now being involved. A second woman has been contacted but not located.
It emerged this morning that infected person stayed at the Kingswood Manor Hotel in Whangārei on the night of Sunday October 3. There are 362 exposure events involving 250 locations, in the latest update to the Ministry's list of locations of interest.
New locations added this morning include supermarkets in Papakura, Mt Roskill and Three Kings.
The Prime Minister has also indicated she will address concerns about children returning to school after the holidays this afternoon. There have been calls for healthcare workers, teachers and supermarket workers to be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
A record number of Pfizer vaccine doses were administered among Māori on Saturday, and the highest amount of second doses were administered nationwide on Friday.
On Friday 67,189 second doses were administered, and 10,283 doses for Māori on Saturday
