A person has tested positive for Covid-19 in Christchurch.
The community case was confirmed by the Ministry of Health in a statement at 1pm on Wednesday.
The ministry said interviews had determined a clear link to the Auckland cluster.
The person travelled back to Christchurch on November 13 on flight NZ1295 after travelling to Auckland for a tangi, director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said.
The person became symptomatic on Sunday and went for a test on Monday.
They live in a household of six people. The household is isolating and will be tested.
Passengers on flight NZ1295 are advised to monitor for symptoms over the next 10 days and get a test on Wednesday.
Locations of interest have not been released by the Ministry of Health.
Additional capacity has been added to community testing centres in the city.
The Orchard and Pages Rds centres are open seven days a week. Details are available here.
People can check if their GP can provide testing by calling them or via the Healthpoint website.
"There is plenty of capacity at all vaccination clinics in Canterbury," the spokesperson said.
The drive-through clinic in Addington is open until 7.30pm every weeknight, and there's a pop-up vaccination event in the car park at New World in Ferry Rd tomorrow and Friday from midday until 6.30pm.
The testing centres currently operating in Canterbury are:
- Orchard Road CBTC (near Airport), 174 Orchard Road, Christchurch. Open 9am-4pm (or later if demand requires), 7 days a week.
- Whānau Ora Community Clinic CBTC, 250 Pages Road, Wainoni, Christchurch. Open 9am-3:30pm (or later if demand requires), 7 days a week.
- Ashburton Hospital site CBTC - 28 Elizabeth Street, Ashburton hospital site. Open 10am-2pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
"We have increased capacity at our testing centres, with additional staff brought on board. Our Orchard Road site will remain open later if needed, to respond to demand,'' said Dr Helen Skinner, who is leading the Canterbury District Health Board's Covid-19 response.
"Please get tested if you visited a location of interest or have cold and flu symptoms."
Full details of testing options in Canterbury can be found here.
The latest Christchurch case will be officially added to the ministry's case numbers tomorrow.
It is the first confirmed case in the city in three weeks, when a woman and man tested positive after travelling from Auckland. In spite of visiting locations across the city, the exposure was low and the outbreak was stopped relatively quickly.
Meanwhile, there are 194 community cases of the virus to report in New Zealand today, with new cases also in Northland (3), Auckland (180), Waikato (5) and Lakes/Taupo (6).
In a statement this afternoon, the Ministry of Health confirmed the death of a man in his 60s.
He was admitted to hospital on November 4 with Covid symptoms and subsequently tested positive. He died yesterday.
There are 88 people in hospital today, including seven in ICU.
There were also two Covid cases at the border - one from England and the other from the Netherlands. They are in a managed isolation and quarantine facility in Auckland.
There are now 6167 community cases in the current Delta outbreak and a total of 8923 cases since the pandemic began in March last year.
There were 21,031 first and second vaccine doses administered yesterday, made up of 6664 first doses and 14,367 second doses.
To date, of New Zealanders aged over 12 years, 91 percent have had their first dose and 82 percent are fully vaccinated.
The latest figures come as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this afternoon that all of New Zealand is expected to move to the traffic light system soon after November 29, with the Auckland boundary opening up to vaccinated or tested people from December 15.
Earlier today, the system that allows fully vaccinated people to request their vaccine pass or certificate went live.
Auckland opening up
People will be able to travel to or from Auckland from December 15 if they have received both Covid-19 vaccines or have returned a negative test, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was joined by Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield from the Beehive at 1pm.
There are 194 cases of Covid-19 in the community today and a further person has died with the virus. A man, in his 60s, died at North Shore Hospital.
The Ministry said he was admitted to hospital on November 4 with Covid symptoms and subsequently tested positive. He died yesterday
There are new cases in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Lakes/Taupo and Canterbury.
From December 15, people travelling out of Auckland who are fully vaccinated or test negative 72 hours before departure will be able to leave the city.
It will be in place from then to January 17.
Police will have operational discretion and those who break the rules could face a $1000 fine.
On Auckland's northern boundary, police will work with iwi and so people there have confidence checks are in place to keep people safe.
Air New Zealand has put in place vaccination and testing requirements. Checks for travellers out of Auckland Airport will be done at the check-in stage. Air New Zealand will require a vaccine certificate or a negative test result for flyers departing Auckland from December 15.
Interislander ferries will also use these requirements, done so with the South Island in mind.
It represents a significant shift for New Zealand and Ardern said as she encouraged people to get vaccinated.
Ardern cited details which were released today about the vaccine pass and how to apply for it. She was aware more than 60,000 people had done so today.
Other ministers will look at how testing and social care will work for those with the virus.
Ardern said it was important community care was robust as to reduce the onward spread.
On November 29, Cabinet will confirm Auckland's move into the traffic light system, into the red level, she said.
At that same meeting, the rest of the country will move at the same time as Auckland.
Areas with lower vaccination areas will be moved into the red level to protect people and promote vaccinations.
Aucklanders will experience a change and a lowering of restrictions before December 15, Ardern said.
Asked about the timing of the December 15 decision, Ardern said the whole country needed to be in the new framework by then so the two weeks between then would give Government the chance to implement it.
Ardern said there had been a phenomenal increase in vaccination levels over recent months and this framework would offer greater protection because of those levels
On lower vaccination areas, Ardern said vaccination levels would be key in deciding when those areas would move to different levels in the traffic light system
For those who say they have concerns about areas with low vaccination levels, Ardern assured them red would give them protection
From January 17, Ardern said vaccination levels would be very high and testing and certificates would be used to slow the spread. She noted we needed to move into a system where we didn't have hard borders.
Ardern said there would be separate announcements regarding the international border.
Vaccine passport website overwhelmed
Earlier today people wanting to download their vaccine passports on the My Covid Record website - which is now live - faced a bumpy start this morning, however, when the site seemingly buckled under the pressure.
People trying to access the service were told "too many requests" at around 7.15am.
Hipkins told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that once the country moves into the traffic light framework people will need to prove that they have it, either show it and print it out, he said.
The website was working this morning and can produce about 200 vaccine certificates per second.
"All the feedback I've had is that it's working but there may be periods where there's a little delay."
More than a million people had downloaded their records since the website had been operational. The next step to get your certificate should be a "very seamless one".
He thought most people would find it straightforward and they had about 2000 people road test it - many with different levels of digital literacy, he said.
Senior citizens also have the option of making a call to get their certificate instead of having to download or print it out, he said.
On people who had been vaccinated overseas, he told TVNZ's Breakfast that that part of the vaccine passport system would take longer as it was a manual process.
