As many as 94 close contacts and 262 casual contacts have been linked to the COVID-19-positive quarantine worker who attended fitness classes in Auckland.
The health worker tested positive for the virus on September 13 following mandatory weekly testing. They had previously only returned negative test results.
They visited Takapuna Les Mills and attended three fitness classes there. They also visited Milford Countdown and The Warehouse.
One-hundred people were swabbed at the Northcote testing station in Auckland by midday Tuesday, and 300 people had a test on Monday.
Most visiting the testing station were members of the Takapuna Les Mills who were being swabbed as a precaution.
"Les Mills and the Warehouse. I was at both places on that day, so just thought precautionary to get tested," local Penny Davenport said.
"They're really fastidious at that gym. It's been deep cleaned. I'm not worried about going to the gym but just being cautious," another local Alison Parker said.
There are 262 casual contacts from the gym. Another 72 are confirmed as going to the same classes as the infected worker - but more close contacts are being chased up.
There are now a possible 94 close contacts linked to the three fitness classes attended by the quarantine worker, prompting a surge in testing at community clinics.
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A mother whose daughter was tested told Newshub she waited for four hours to have a test.
"If that wasn't bad enough, my mother gets the results of my daughter today. She wasn't even with us yesterday," she said.
Clinical director for Whanau Ora Dr Vanshdeep Tangri said more staff were rostered on and an additional pop-up centre had been opened. He said the new pop-up site will ease the pressure.
"Mostly from Les Mills, we are getting a lot. Some from the other locations as well," he said, referring to the Countdown and The Warehouse store the infected worker visited.
Newshub revealed on August 13 that more than 60 percent of border and quarantine and isolation staff had never had a test.
On the same day, the worker, a nurse at quarantine facility Jet Park Hotel, had her first ever COVID test and returned a negative result.
On August 18 and 27 she tested negative, and also on September 6. But on September 13 a positive test was recorded.
"It does mean of course there's been a lapse," Otago University public health Professor Michael Baker said.
"So, somehow that worker has become infected so clearly we need to investigate what happened and prevent that happening again. But it's certainly better than the situation that applied before."
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Tuesday the Auckland cluster "must" have been caused by a breakdown at the border.
"It must have been introduced through the borders, either at the airport or at a managed isolation facility or possibly through one of the ports," he said.
Dr Bloomfield's statement contradicts Minister Megan Woods' comments on September 2 that the outbreak is "unlikely" to have come from an MIQ facility.
As the virus continues to creep along with three new cases in managed isolation announced on Tuesday and none in the community, Air New Zealand trumped record sales - 70,000 cheap seats sold in six hours. It means many travellers are leaving Auckland.
"Yes, it is a problem if there are huge volumes of people flying in and out of Auckland at the moment," Prof Baker said,
That, he said, could spread the virus. It's not a high risk, but a risk nonetheless.
