New Zealand's COVID-19 outbreak leapt by 62 cases on Wednesday as leaders insist the new community infections won't blunt their elimination aim.
The new cases - 61 in Auckland and one in Wellington - means New Zealand's first Delta outbreak has now infected 210 people.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the case numbers, after 41 on Tuesday and 35 on Monday, were yet to get out of hand.
"While this is steady growth, it is not exponential," he said.
The outbreak remains centred on Auckland, which has 198 of the cases, with 12 in Wellington. Of those infected, 12 require hospital-level care.
The outbreak has driven Kiwis to get vaccinated in record numbers.
COVID-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said 80,033 New Zealanders were administered one of their two doses on Tuesday; a new daily record.
New Zealand remains well behind other advanced countries for vaccination rates per capita.
Jacinda Ardern's government remains resolute in their desire to return to zero community cases of COVID-19 this year, until the vaccination program runs its course.
Vehicles line up for COVID-19 testing in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday, 19 August, 2021. Source: New Zealand Herald
The prime minister insisted she was "not fussed" by an incendiary comment by Australian PM Scott Morrison, who said jurisdictions pursuing an elimination strategy were "absurd", likening them to cave-dwellers.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson also bit back against Mr Morrison's argument.
"I just don't see it the way that Scott Morrison and others are presenting it," he told Kiwi radio station Newstalk ZB.
"Certainly every public health expert I speak to says that what we're doing right now is exactly the right strategy for New Zealand."
The COVID-19 outbreak has been traced back to a Kiwi man who travelled from Australia earlier this month.
