[Source: 1News]

There are 39 new COVID-19 community cases in New Zealand today, the Ministry of Health has announced.

The cases are located in Auckland (21), Lakes (14), Hawke’s Bay (2), Canterbury (1) and West Coast (1).

The Canterbury case and one of the Hawke’s Bay cases were announced on Wednesday, but are included in Thursday’s numbers.

The West Coast case has been deemed historical. It had been announced earlier this week due to a weak positive result, but further investigation showed their infection was historical, the ministry said in a statement.

Twenty-one people with the virus are in hospital. One of them is in an intensive care or high dependency unit.