Wellington, Sep 7 (FN Agency) New Zealand reported 21 new community cases of Delta variant of COVID-19 on Tuesday, all in the largest city Auckland, which brought the total number of cases in the country’s community outbreak to 841. Auckland has 824 community cases and the capital Wellington has 17 cases, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a press conference. There are 817 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically-linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 24 for which links are yet to be fully established, Bloomfield said. Of the current community cases, 39 cases are in hospital, including six cases in intensive care units (ICUs) or high dependency units (HDUs), it said.
The total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand since the start of the pandemic is 3,813, it said. Everywhere outside of Auckland will move to Alert Level 2 from 11:59 p.m. local time Tuesday, which means businesses and schools are back to normal, with masks mandatory in more settings and gatherings limited to 50 people, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday. Auckland will remain at Level 4 for at least another week. New Zealand moved to a lockdown midnight Aug. 17 after the first COVID-19 Delta variant case in the Auckland community was identified.