8 Oct 2021

Covid-19 updates: Northlanders line up for vaccine as alert level rises

7:55 pm on 8 October 2021

A Northland vaccination clinic has been getting through an average of one person a minute, as the region moves to alert level 3 tonight.

The worker, who is based in Auckland, was swabbed as part of surveillance testing on Monday. Last night the Ministry of Health confirmed they had tested positive again in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Speaking at an unscheduled media briefing this evening, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said based on new information around their movements, the government had no choice but to put Northland into alert level 3.

The site coordinator for the mass clinic at Semenoff Stadium, Anna Rooney, says as soon as Northlanders heard of the weak positive test result, "it was like a switch flicked".

The Health Ministry revealed today that there were 44 new community cases, a number that was "not unexpected".

See how the day's Covid-19 news unfolded with RNZ's blog.

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