UPDATE: Director of Health Ashley Bloomfield has announced that the AstraZeneca vaccine will soon be available for a small amount of New Zealander's.

'AstraZeneca is there as an option for people who can't take the Pfizer or people who are required to be vaccinated under an order and are not willing to have an MRNA vaccine.

'This gives them an alternative and there will be a process on that.

'The availability is likely to be in late November.

'It is not for everyone and Pfizer remains the main state of our vaccination programme.

'Our programme, and for a good reason, is a Pfizer based programme and it's turned out to be one of the most effective and safest vaccines, including towards the delta variant.

"We'll outline more detail on that next week," says Bloomfield.

There are 81 people in hospital today with Covid-19, up from yesterday's number of 79.

All of these hospitalisations are in the Auckland region.

At today's Covid-19 briefing, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has also reported the sudden death of a man in his 60s who had Covid-19 and was isolating at a home in Glen Eden.

"The cause of his death will be determined by the coroner, including whether it may have been Covid-19 related.

"This is a sad reminder that Covid-19 is potentially very serious - and fatal - if you're not vaccinated."

He said any Covid-19 deaths would be looked into fully, whether they happened in a hospital or at home.

"We're looking back at each of these deaths to see what was the level of interaction, exactly what happened in those cases, was there any problem with the clinical assessment and also the clinical handover - there's nothing to suggest so yet and the third one which came in overnight, we don't have detail on but we'll look at any opportunity to improve both the initial assessment and the allocation of someone, but also how the system is working."

Today, there are 147 cases of Covid-19 in the community. Of these, there are 131 in Auckland, 14 in the Waikato and two in Northland.

There are also two new Covid-19 cases which have been identified at the border.

New cases identified at the border

Clarifications
*One previously reported community case in Auckland has been re-allocated to Northland. Two previously reported MIQ cases have been reclassified as historical.
** The number of cases here may sometimes differ from the total reported the previous day due to a difference in reporting timeframes and reclassifications.

***There were positive wastewater detections in samples collected from Stratford on 6 and 7 November, but Covid-19 was not detected in samples taken on 8 November. Further samples will be collected next week. Covid-19 was not detected in samples collected in Gisborne on 8 November. Further testing is underway. Covid-19 was not detected in samples from Napier on 8 November.

Death of man with Covid-19 overnight

The Ministry is today sadly reporting the sudden death of a man in his 60s who had Covid-19 and was isolating at a home in Glen Eden.

The cause of his death will be determined by the coroner, including whether it may have been Covid-19 related.

Any deaths which might be Covid-19 related are fully investigated, whether they occur at home or in a hospital setting.

"Our thoughts are with this man's whânau and friends at this stressful time.

"This is a sad reminder that Covid-19 is potentially very serious – and fatal – if you're not vaccinated.

"This man's death is not included in today's numbers."

Northland update

There are two new cases to report in Northland., both in the same household in Dargaville, with links to known cases.

"One of the cases is a child, which highlights the importance of getting vaccinated to protect our tamariki who aren't yet eligible to get the vaccine.

"The more of us who are vaccinated in our community, the greater our immunity.

"We are continuing to urge anyone in Northland with any symptoms of Covid-19 to get tested as soon as possible, especially people living in Dargaville.

"Testing centre locations can be found on the Northland DHB website."

In Northland, 12 cases are currently being supported to isolate at home.

Upper Northland will move to Alert Level 2 from 11:59 pm Thursday 11 November.

Auckland update
There are 19 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland today.

People in Auckland are encouraged to please get a test if they have any symptoms, no matter how mild. Even if people are fully vaccinated, and have been isolating at home, please seek out a test if you feel the need.

In metro Auckland, public health staff are now supporting 2,664 people to isolate at home, including 1,230 cases.

Please note there is currently a difference between the number of cases reported by NRHCC and Ministry of Health. This is due to the way the Ministry reports the data and we are working to address this.


Auckland rest and care homes
There are now 21 residents and four staff members of Edmonton Meadows Care Home in Henderson who have tested positive for COVID-19
  
Seven of the COVID-19 positive residents are receiving appropriate ward-level care at Auckland hospitals. There has been no increase in numbers over the last 24 hours.   
 
One further resident of Rosaria Rest Home has tested positive for COVI-19 since a resident tested positive for COVID-19 late last week. Results for all residents and staff have now been received and at this stage all others are negative.

Auckland Regional Public Health Service and Auckland DHB staff are supporting the residents and staff to keep safe at the privately-owned facility.

The transmission route has yet to be established.

Waikato update
There are 14 new cases in Waikato being reported today. Of these 10 are from Ôtorohanga – including six people in one household who are known contacts of cases - three from Hamilton and one from Ngâruawâhia.

There are seven pop-up and dedicated testing sites operating across Waikato today in Hamilton, Ngâruawâhia, Huntly, Ôtorohanga, Te Awamutu, and Te Kuiti.

There were 2,988 swabs taken in Waikato yesterday and 1,894 doses of vaccine were given.

Waikato public health staff are supporting 62 people who are considered active cases to safely isolate at home.

EARLIER:

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will provide a Covid-19 update today at 1pm.

Chris Hipkins is due to give more details on whether Auckland primary and intermediate students will reopen next week.

Today's announcement comes as Auckland alert level restrictions ease.

Retailers have opened their doors today for an expected rush of pent-up demand, while museums, zoos and libraries are gradually re-opening.

Tune in to hear more.