There are 215 new community Covid-19 cases in New Zealand on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health has announced.

(Source: 1News)

The cases are in Auckland (181), Waikato (18), Northland (3) and Bay of Plenty (12) and Canterbury (1).

The case in Canterbury has been deemed as historical and they are no longer considered infectious.

They are a close contact of a previously reported case.

Northland’s three new cases are located in Kaitāia and Whangārei.

One of the cases in Kaitāia is unlinked.

The other case in Kaitāia and the one in Whangārei are close contacts of existing cases and were already isolating.

The 12 new cases in Bay of Plenty bring the region’s total in the Delta outbreak to 53.

There are new community cases in Auckland, Waikato, Northland, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury. (Source: 1News)

Six of Wednesday’s 12 Bay of Plenty cases are known close contacts and were already isolating.

Interviews are underway with three of the cases to find out the source of their infection.

This includes a case in eastern Bay of Plenty, the ministry said.

Additional testing is being stood up as a result on Wednesday at the Waimana Club Rooms. It is open until late.

Testing will also be available from the Whakatāne war memorial on Thursday from 9am-4pm.

A total of 87 people are in hospital with the virus around the North Island, with eight in intensive care or a high dependency unit.

Of Wednesday’s 215 cases, 97 have been epidemiologically linked, meaning 118 are yet to be linked to the current outbreak.

Ministry reveals vaccination status of some Covid-19 deaths

The Ministry of Health said it would now be reporting the vaccination status of the people who have died with Covid-19 in the current outbreak.

To date in the pandemic, 41 people have died with the virus in New Zealand. Fifteen of these deaths occurred in the Delta outbreak.

Of the 15 deaths, 10 were unvaccinated.

Two had received one dose of the vaccine less than 14 days before they contracted Covid-19.

Three were fully vaccinated.

“There is clear evidence that Covid-19 vaccination greatly reduces the likelihood people will end up in hospital or die from Covid-19,” the ministry said.

It went on to reference a British Medical Journey study published last month, where research carried out in Scotland showed the Pfizer vaccine was 90 per cent effective in preventing death from Covid-19 — where most infections were caused by the Delta variant.

On Tuesday there were also 215 community cases in New Zealand.

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