WELLINGTON, Aug. 22 (Xinhua)-- There were six new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand on Saturday, the Ministry of Health announced in a statement.
According to the ministry, all six new cases were identified as community transmission. Four were epidemiologically linked to an existent cluster in Auckland, with two being household contacts and two being church contacts. The other two cases reported on Saturday were still under investigation.
The six new cases reported on Saturday brought the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 1,321, which was the number New Zealand reported to the World Health Organization, said the ministry.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand was currently 111. Sixteen of the active cases were imported cases from managed isolation facilities.
Nine people with COVID-19 were being treated in hospital, six of whom were in stable conditions while three people were in ICU, it is stated.
Laboratories across New Zealand processed 12,256 tests for COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 685,476, stated the ministry.
Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Auckland, the greater Auckland region was put back into Alert Level 3 from Aug. 12 with restrictions in and out of the metropolitan city. The rest of the country was currently at COVID-19 Alert Level 2.
The New Zealand government will announce a decision on current Alert Levels on Monday. Enditem
