New Zealand is bracing for a record number of infections so far this outbreak, as potential exposure sites mount and a warning the peak will hit in the next 48 hours.
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It comes as a second quarantine facility is due to open in Auckland to place the ballooning number of infected people needing to be isolated from families and outbreak models show a need to keep the city in lockdown for weeks to curb spread.
And a secondary school rugby game at South Auckland's De La Salle College is now a potential exposure site for Covid-19.
Everyone who watched or took part in the sporting clash that took place at the Mangere school on Saturday, August 14, is considered a close contact and asked to isolate for 14 days.
There are 494 exposure events involving 364 locations on the Ministry of Health's locations of interest.
Another West Auckland supermarket has been added to the updated locations of interest. Shoppers who visited the Countdown Westgate Shopping Centre in Massey on Thursday August 19 and Saturday August 21 are asked to self-isolate.
There are currently 210 cases of Covid in this current outbreak spread across two main cities. There are 198 people infected in Auckland and 12 in Wellington.
Yesterday saw the largest single-day tally, with 62 new cases. A dozen people are being treated for the infection in hospital, but none are in ICU.
The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield today warned there would be a "decent number" of new Covid cases this afternoon with a likely peak today and tomorrow.
"We're still getting cases from people who were infected before the lockdown, and then there are a large number of cases we're seeing because of a very big number of exposure events... coming in from people who have been infected subsequent to the lockdown who are household contacts, or other contacts," Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking.
"And that's what's causing the numbers to keep going up... and because it's Delta and it spreads much more."
Infections were happening in lockdown - "mostly" in households.
Bloomfield said a "decent number" of new cases would be reported today - cases had already been coming through since the 1pm news conference yesterday afternoon.
"We had a big number yesterday, 62, so we will expect a pretty decent number again today. The key thing is now, over the next couple of days, we are expecting it to peak and then drop away."
Bloomfield told The AM Show he expected the level-four restrictions to "really start to kick in" tomorrow or Saturday before cases started to "level off".
Speaking to TVNZ, Bloomfield said they expected to only see new cases linked to the current Auckland cluster.
Last night the 10th Auckland school was added to the growing list, with Otahuhu College listed.
Bloomfield told RNZ that work was under way to look at what an internal boundary between Auckland and the rest of the country would look like, what travel would be permitted across the boundary and how it would be enforced.
Bloomfield's comments come amid new reports of another issue with the vaccine rollout. During a full-day clinic there were six people who had received a low dose in Christchurch.
Bloomfield said he didn't know about this incident until after it had been reported by media and wasn't sure why he wasn't told. He said he had a good team looking after the vaccination situation.
"It wasn't one the team had told me about yet," he told Hosking. "They don't tell me about everything... I've got a really good team that's looking after the vaccination programme. Looking at the information provided, I can see it was dealt with on the spot, very professionally."
Bloomfield acknowledged the work the public were doing to get tested and self-isolate.
"We're getting there. People are doing what they need to do."
He said "another couple of hundred" beds are being prepared at a second quarantine facility in Auckland, with Jet Park likely to be full from today.
If the situation continued, Bloomfield said there were still options for people to quarantine in facilities in Wellington and Christchurch.
Many families who were caught up in the current situation are getting welfare - something Bloomfield said was part of the support, given so many people are having to self-isolate.
North and South split as Auckland expects longer lockdown
Professor Shaun Hendy, a Covid-19 modeller at the University of Auckland, agreed they expected to see cases peak over the next few days.
"There's some element of bad luck in this current outbreak," Hendy told TVNZ, referring to a number of large events he dubbed "super-spreader events".
Hendy said he expected Auckland to stay in alert level 4 lockdown for "multiple weeks".
"We will be looking to get back to zero cases. The first good signs will be when we see those numbers come down," Hendy said.
But that depended on how well people complied with the rules and stuck to their bubble.
He said there was hope the number of cases would start to drop from next week.
A North Island and South Island split would make sense, Hendy said, referring to a change in alert levels between the two islands. "I think at this stage, a North Island and South Island split is probably what we'd be looking at."
Hendy said whether the South Island dropped alert levels would depend on wastewater tests, where close contacts from Auckland had travelled and whether the testing rates were high enough in those areas.
But there was a need for those in Wellington to be still cautious, Hendy said, given the number of positive cases being dealt with there.
On the alert levels, Bloomfield said he could not see anything happening other than a step down to level 3 for anywhere outside of Auckland - when it happens.
Vaccine error - people given saline
Bloomfield defended the decision not to tell the public about an earlier saline injection error - it was only revealed by media yesterday that five people out of 732 may have been injected with harmless saline solution instead of a Covid shot at the Highbrook Vaccination Centre on July 12.
Saline is used to dilute the vaccine once it has thawed.
Bloomfield said the first priority was to investigate what had happened rather than tell the entire nation. He said the wait was around getting clinical advice.
"I'm sorry that incident happened but we did want to tell people what the options were," Bloomfield told The AM Show.
He said "no one lied" - authorities were simply trying to get the full picture before any information was put out.
He reiterated that everyone potentially impacted would get an email or letter in the next 24 hours. He defended the time taken to make the information public.
He said there was still uncertainty that anyone missed a vaccine and he wanted to ensure he had the best information possible before telling the community.
Bloomfield found out within "days" of the incident and the minister was made aware that a "proper" investigation was under way. "The right actions were in train," he said.
"We would have let the minister know there was an incident and it was being followed up appropriately."
He could not say exactly when the minister was told or who then informed the Prime Minister.
"The reason this incident was found was because we have meticulous processes in place," he said. "I can assure the public the [vaccination] programme has been very thoroughly planned and rolled out appropriately."
He told RNZ that everyone who got vaccinated at the centre on July 12 would either get an email today or letter couriered to them to explain things and outline the options. The people in that group who hadn't received a second dose would now be expedited, he said.
People vaccinated on that day would also be offered a third dose at a later point.
