Coronavirus: New Zealand has 139 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the community

New Zealand has 139 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, reports the Ministry of Health.

Of today's new cases, 136 are in Auckland, while one is in Northland and two are in Waikato - taking the total number of cases in Waikato to 146 (54 of whom have recovered).

67 of these new cases are household or close contacts of existing cases.

Today a total of 1,730 cases are now reported as having recovered from Covid-19.

That brings the total number of active cases in the community to 2,141 (the total number of cases in this outbreak is now 3,871).

There are now 15 cases in Northland (five of whom have recovered) and four active cases in Christchurch.

There are 64 people in hospital, including five patients in intensive care.

The sudden death of a 40-year-old man with COVID-19 who had been isolating at home has been referred to the Coroner who will determine whether it was COVID-19 related.

Auckland, Northland and parts of Waikato (Raglan, Te Kauwhata, Ngaruawahia, Hamilton city, Huntly, Te Kuiti, Waipa, Ōtorohanga, Te Awamutu, Karapiro and Cambridge) are currently at alert level 3.

Waikato has seen an easing of restrictions as it moved to level 3 step 2 on Tuesday night.

Auckland will "step down" at 11.59pm on Tuesday 9 November.

The rest of the country is at alert level 2.

Last week, the Prime Minister revealed New Zealand will move into a new way of managing Covid-19 when District Health Boards have 90 per cent of their eligible populations vaccinated.

The traffic light system will use vaccine certificates to allow complying businesses to continue to operate at all times - and proposes to end nationwide lockdowns.

New Zealand has had 6,611 confirmed cases since the pandemic began last year and 28 deaths.