Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Dr Health Ashley Bloomfield are giving a briefing on Covid-19.

Air Commodore Darryn Webb, head of managed isolation and quarantine, and Megan Woods, minister in charge of managed isolation, are at the briefing.

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Watch the media conference here from about 1pm:

Latest from live update:

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Health Minister Chris Hipkins is joining Dr Bloomfield in today’s update.
No new cases in managed isolation.
13 new confirmed cases in the community to report today – Dr Bloomfield.
12 of the new cases are linked to the community cases and one is under investigation but is believed to be linked.
Total number of confirmed cases is now 1293.One previously reported probable case is now reclassified as under investigation.Total number of active cases in New Zealand is 90, 69 of which are from the community cluster – Dr Bloomfield.
Dr Bloomfield says 98 people linked to the cluster have been moved into the Auckland quarantine facility, that includes 44 people who have tested positive and the balance are household contacts.
Six people are receiving hospital-level care for Covid – two in Auckland City Hospital and four in Middlemore. None are requiring intensive care.
Dr Bloomfield says genomic sequencing has provided more on information on two cases of Covid-19 that were under investigation.
He says they have been able to genomically link the household of five positive cases, one of those is currently in Auckland Hospital, to the existing cluster.
“This gives us a high level of reassurance that these people are part of the same community cluster rather than it being a separate cluster.”
The second case is a man who is a maintenance worker at the Rydges Hotel, one of the managed isolation hotels.
Dr Bloomfield said the Ministry of Health has received more than 5000 ex

Dr Bloomfield said nearly 1,500,000 users of the Covid tracer app, nearly 37 percent of the population aged 15 and over.
More than 100,000 tests have been processed in the last five days, 18,421 were processed yesterday, Chris Hipkins said.
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COVID-19 media update, 18 August

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