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COMMUNITY CASES LATEST
* There are now 21 community cases, 2 in hospital
* Over 100 locations of interest have been released, the earliest of which goes back to August 3
* An infected Air New Zealand crew member visited two Covid-infected countries in recent weeks
* Hundreds of Aucklanders were turned away from roadblocks north and south of region slammed by police, community leaders
* Mandatory masks when using essential services became compulsary today
* The vaccine rollout recommenced, although not all places were open. Ayesha Verrall says others will be open tomorrow
* Our cases are a likely match to a recent returnee who flew in from Sydney on August 7. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's reassuring the variant's been in the community for a ‘relatively short’ time.
* Queenstown flights and Interislander services have been given an extra 24 hours to get people home
* Aucklanders have been waiting in queues for hours at testing stations

LIVE BLOG

The country has entered its second day of level-4 lockdown, with queues at testing stations across Auckland snake for kilometres as those with cold-like symptoms or at any one of the 76 locations of interest seek swabs.

The new locations of interest include Countdown Takapuna, Dominos in Beach Haven, KFC Takapuna, an East Tamaki Z station, Hoyts Cinemas in Wairau Park and Movie Monterey in Takapuna.

There are now 21 confirmed cases of people infected with the virus after it emerged a 58-year-old Devonport tradesman tested positive for Covid on Tuesday. Most are aged in their 20s and were active in the community while infectious.

A total of 240 SkyCity staff members have been identified as close contacts and are now in isolation, after a person who tested positive for Covid visited the casino.

And the company estimates "around 1000" patrons were on the main gaming floor complex at the same time as the positive case in the early hours of Saturday morning.

SkyCity chief executive Michael Ahearne confirmed 240 of his staff were working on the main casino gaming floor between 1.15am and 3am - the time authorities say a positive case linked to Auckland's latest cluster was there.

Last night, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins revealed three new cases that had been identified since the 1pm press conference where two other cases were announced.

Of yesterday's cases, eight were linked to the first case reported on Tuesday, a 58-year-old tradesman from Devonport who travelled to Coromandel town over the weekend with his wife, who was fully vaccinated and returned two negative tests. One of the latest cases had been linked to a border case but not yet the latest outbreak.

Four of the cases were in a North Shore flat together - one a fully-vaccinated nurse at Auckland City Hospital and another a teacher at Avondale College, the country's third-largest high school.

Hipkins also confirmed they were "almost certain" the Devonport man was not the index case.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday genome sequencing confirmed the current outbreak was the Delta strain of the virus, and that it came from New South Wales (NSW).

This ruled out several potential scenarios, Ardern said.

It could not be linked to Auckland City Hospital, where one of the recent cases was a nurse, as no Covid-19 patients there had come from NSW. There was also no link to the Wallabies rugby team, as they had been based in Queensland for some time before coming to New Zealand.

There was also no link to the father of one of the Auckland Delta cluster cases, who returned from Australia in May, Ardern said.

NEW ZEALAND LOCATIONS OF INTEREST