Saturday 23 October, 1pm

The South Island has its first case of Covid-19 in the current outbreak. A case is isolating in Blenheim after flying from Rotorua on Thursday. They had a sore throat after landing and got tested, returning a weak positive result.

Investigation into the source of the infection is ongoing. Early indications suggest it is linked to cases in Te Awamutu.

The Ministry of Health classified the risk as low as the person is in the late stage of infection. Blenheim locals are advised to keep an eye on the locations of interest on the Ministry of Health website here.

There are 104 new cases in the community today.

Of these, there are 91 cases in Auckland, eight in Waikato, four in Northland and one in Nelson Marlborough.

All of the Northland cases are related to each other.

There are 55 people in hospital, five of them in HDU or intensive care.

So far, 61 cases of today's 104 cases are unlinked. The total number of unlinked cases from the past 14 days is now 274. 

The total number of cases in the outbreak is 2492.

There are two new cases at the border.

There were 44,750 vaccines administered nationally yesterday.

Auckland has reached 90 percent of the eligible population with one dose, and 75 percent with two doses.

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