There are 44  new community cases of COVID-19 today – 41 are in Auckland and three are in Waikato.

Twenty of the cases are household contacts, 12 are known contacts, and 12 remain unlinked with investigations continuing to determine how they are linked to the current outbreak, Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay said.

“We acknowledge today’s numbers are higher than recent days. This is not unexpected because there have been a number of contacts of new cases and we can expect to get fluctuations from day to day.”

The three new cases in Waikato are all linked and are contacts of existing cases. Interviews are continuing to determine any further contacts or locations of interest.

There are seven pop up testing sites operating today at Claudelands, Te Rapa, Karapiro, Raglan, Huntly, Kawhia and Tokoroa, with extended hours to cater for demand. Anyone in Waikato with symptoms is urged to get a test.

There are 16 epidemiologically linked subclusters, McElnay said. “Of these, six are active, one is contained and nine are dormant.”

The number of active contacts being managed is 1749, with 77 per cent having been contacted by contact tracers and 74 per cent having received at least one test result.