One new case and one new death from coronavirus have been recorded in the last 24 hours, the Director-General of Health has revealed.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the death was of a Māori man in 50s - a confirmed case who had been looked after in intensive care at Waikato Hospital.
He had been admitted to hospital on August 19, and passed away on Tuesday. Tragically, he was the brother of a man who died earlier this month due to coronavirus.
It marks the 25th death in New Zealand since the virus first arrived on our shores in February, and just the third since a resurgence in the community was detected on August 11.
The new case - a woman in her 30s - did not get infected through community transmission, but tested positive at a managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facility.
She arrived from Dubai on September 9, and is related to the three new cases reported on Tuesday.
Three people are in hospital as a result of COVID-19 infection, two of whom are in intensive care at North Shore and Middlemore Hospitals.
There are 57 people linked to the cluster who remain at Auckland's quarantine facility, and 27 have tested positive.
Following the announcement of one new case alongside a death and four new recoveries, the number of active cases in New Zealand has dropped to 79 - of which 27 are imported and 52 are in the community.
Meanwhile another 9088 tests were processed on Tuesday, bringing the number of tests completed to date to 881,532.
Bloomfield confident Auckland cluster 'ring-fenced'
The Director-General of Health says he and other officials are growing increasingly confident they've been able to ring-fence the Auckland cluster.
This covers the handful of sub-clusters identified in recent weeks, including those related the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship Church and bereavement activities.
Last week, Dr Bloomfield made clear his concern at new community cases, telling media his 'virtual dashboard' was flashing orange and "won't go steady green until we’re confident we've got this outbreak well-circled".
But he revisited the metaphor at Wednesday afternoon's press conference, saying his dashboard was now "amber-green".
He said this confidence had been bolstered by the fact there was no evidence of further spread as a result of the health worker who was infected last week.
Health worker linked to person at quarantine facility
The healthcare worker who attended three classes at a Les Mills gym and visited a Countdown and Warehouse while unkowingly infected has now been linked to a particular case.
The epidemiological link is to a community case at a quarantine facility whose condition required assessment and subsequent hospitalisation, Dr Bloomfield said.
Health officials understand the worker had entered the person's room to provide care and a health assessment ahead of their transfer to a hospital.
Dr Bloomfield says a clinical review will be undertaken to assess the nature of the worker's interaction with the community case, and their use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
There are now 85 close contacts from the worker's gym sessions at Les Mills Takapuna - 80 of which have returned a negative result.
Another 195 casual gym contacts have been identified, 91 of which have returned a negative result.
