Health chiefs say New Zealand should now start to see the peak of Covid-19 cases in the Delta outbreak as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stresses that the level 4 lockdown is working.
Ardern and her Cabinet colleagues are due to meet tomorrow to decide if lockdown restrictions can lift in parts of New Zealand.
The 68 new cases reported in the community today is the highest daily number yet in the current outbreak. It brings the total to 277.
Of those 277, 34 people have received one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and ten people are fully vaccinated, Director of Public Caroline McElnay says.
On Saturday and Monday, Covid-19 was detected in Christchurch's wastewater for the first time during the current outbreak.
However, Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay said on Thursday there are three active cases in managed isolation in the city and they would show up in the wastewater testing. Samples from nearly every other wastewater catchment were negative, she said. Testing has been undertaken at 27 locations across the South Island.
The positive sampling is something that has been seen previously and means the test results are not an indication of Covid in the Christchurch community.
Further samples will be taken from around the city today, and results are expected by the end of the week.
Crown scientific research institute ESR, undertook the watewater testing. Wastewater testing can show someone in the network is shedding the virus, but not specifically where or who is shedding it, or the exact number of people who have contributed to a positive detection, according to ESR's website.
Shedding levels can vary significantly between individuals and at different stages in an infection, and not every infected person may shed the virus.
In Wellington, Covid-19 continues to only be detected at Moor Point. No new results had been reported from Auckland wastewater since yesterday.
Of the 277 cases in the outbreak, 263 are in Auckland and 14 are in Wellington.
Overall, New Zealand is in a very similar place to yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The numbers are not unexpected, she said.
"With Delta, people are infectious much sooner and appear to give it more people. We can expect the lag time in our numbers to be longer, and bigger," Ardern said.
She said we need to be "incredibly vigilant".
Experts are telling the Government to stick to the elimination strategy, Ardern said.
The collective goal is to move away from lockdown measures and vaccines help us do that, the Prime Minister said. She said it's not the Government's intention to use lockdown measures "forever".
Ardern said compliance with level 4 restrictions has been impressive so far.
"Always act as if you might have Covid," she reminded New Zealanders. "The most important thing you can do to avoid further lockdowns, is to get vaccinated."
There is an earlier period of infectiousness, she said.
"Cases coming in completely confirm the lockdown," McElnay adds.
Ardern wants to see the highest number of people vaccinated as possible before New Zealand abandons the elimination strategy.
Church cluster rises to 114 cases
There are still six sub-clusters. The Birkdale Social Network cluster has 35 confirmed cases and the Mangere church cluster has 114 cases.
There are individuals split across multiple [church] congregations, Ardern said, which has caused some challenges.
There are 495 locations of interest - but only three new ones were added today. A rugby game was added that was pre lockdown, and two supermarket visits post lockdown.
24,402 contacts have been formally identified since 8am today. Sixty-five per cent have been followed up by contact tracers and individuals are self-isolating. Seventy-one per cent of all close contacts have had a test.
Yesterday New Zealand labs processed 41,739 swabs nationwide.
In Wellington, 3303 swabs were processed and more than 20,000 swabs were processed across Auckland yesterday.
Twenty-three community testing centres are open in Auckland today.
There are six regular testing centres, and 12 pop up centres. Today is expected to be another busy day at testing centres.
Missing link to Crowne Plaza
There was a possible link between a case detected early on in the outbreak and the Crowne Plaza. But the person who might be the missing link has tested negative twice, and their household. It's not something the Government is "canvassing widely", Ardern said.
NSW cases
New South Wales Health has reported 1,029 cases in the community, the worst single day of the outbreak to date.
Ardern on vaccine investigation
The Ministry of Health has copped criticism on the lack of contact with a very small number of people who may have received a saline vaccine at the Highbrook jab centre in Auckland's East Tamaki.
"It was not good enough it took that length of time to tell people what happened," Ardern said. She said the delay was because the best alternative option for those people affected had not been decided, but no one's safety was compromised," she said.
Alert levels decision
The numbers come as the Government begins to consider whether it can lift alert levels anywhere in the country outside of Auckland. That decision will be announced tomorrow.
Potential exposure sites in the outbreak are mounting and a warning the first wave's peak will hit in the next 48 hours.
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.
Yesterday was another record day for vaccination 87,772 doses administered. More than 3 million doses administered since vaccination campaign began. Largest bookings yesterday, 2700 bookings.
Five secondary school rugby games played at South Auckland's De La Salle College are now potential exposure sites for Covid-19.
Everyone who watched or took part in a sporting clash that took place at the Mangere school on Saturday, August 14, is considered a close contact and is asked to isolate for 14 days. They include teams from Mt Albert Grammar, King's College, St Paul's College, Massey High and Dilworth School.
The locations of interest website does not specify which of these clashes are possible exposure events, rather it lists the school.
There are 494 exposure events involving 364 locations on the Ministry of Health's locations of interest.
Bloomfield said on Thursday morning there were more cases to report, but none outside Auckland.
He also revealed a possible link from a case in the Māngere church subcluster to the traveller in the Crowne Plaza has been identified, which could solve the issue of any missing transmission links in the whole outbreak.
So far six epidemiologically-linked subclusters have been identified within the outbreak. The largest cluster associated with the AOG church in Mangere is sitting at 105 cases and the Birkdale Social Network cluster associated with the very first case is at 36 infected people.
It comes as the number of potential exposure sites swell to nearly 500.
Last night the 10th Auckland school was added to the growing list, with Otahuhu College listed.
Another fashion shop at a busy North Shore mall was added along with a fruit and vegetable store in South Auckland.
Bloomfield this morning revealed around 200 beds could be made available at a second quarantine facility in Auckland.
If the situation continued to worse there were still options for people to quarantine elsewhere in New Zealand in facilities in Wellington and Christchurch.
Meanwhile the country's top health official this morning apologised after saline-diluted doses were administered to five people instead of the full-strength Pfizer vaccine in Auckland last month.
It came as fresh concerns emerged of a similar incident happening at a Christchurch vaccination centre.
"I'm sorry that incident happened but we did want to tell people what the options were," he said.
Everyone who got vaccinated on July 12 would either get an email today or letter couriered to them to explain the situation and outline options. Those in the group who hadn't received a second dose would now be expedited, he said.
Modelling shows the country will now start to see the peak number of cases, McEnlay said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to see high numbers because of those household contacts," Ardern said.
What does this mean for lockdown?
The lockdown is having an impact, Ardern said.
There isn't spread of the virus beyond Auckland and Wellington. If it weren't for lockdown, Ardern said she was sure we would have seen cases spread further.
Bloomfield, who did not have details about the Christchurch situation, said it took seven weeks to reveal the Auckland incident as there had been a lot of discussion about who was vaccinated and what happened.
They had then sought advice from their technical advisory group. It was only in the last month that evidence had emerged about getting a third dose. "We wanted to be in a position to tell them everything we could.
Auckland University Covid-19 modeller Professor Shaun Hendy said he expected Auckland to stay in 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 told TVNZ.
He said there was hope the number of cases would start to drop from next week.
Meanwhile Bloomfield revealed 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.
Hendy agreed a north-south divide would make sense.
"I think at this stage, a North Island and South Island split is probably what we'd be looking at."
