Wellington, Oct 18 (TIWN) New Zealand reported 60 new Covid-19 cases of the Delta variant in the community on Monday, which increased the country's overall infection tally to 5,055.

Thirty community cases are being treated in hospitals, including five in intensive care units (ICUs) or high dependency units (HDUs), said a ministry statement.  There are 1,841 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically linked to another case or a sub-cluster, and a further 140 cases for which links are yet to be fully established, it said.  New Zealand also reported five new cases identified at the border in recent returnees. The cases have remained in quarantine in Auckland.  The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand since the start of the pandemic stands at 4,696 currently, according to the health ministry.  Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will announce later on Monday the COVID-19 alert level change for some regions of the North Island.