There are 49 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today - the lowest in six days. Six babies under the age of one have caught Covid-19 in the Delta outbreak, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said.
As an unforgiving virus spreads through its church community, members of a South Auckland congregation continue to support each other through prayer and holding on to hope.
Of the 612 community cases in Auckland and Wellington, 308 people linked to what is now referred to as the Māngere church clusterhave tested positive for Covid-19 to date.
It is the country's largest cluster. The next biggest is the Birkdale Social Network cluster linked to a 58-year-old man from Devonport, Case A, who sparked the country's sudden alert level 4 lockdown after he tested positive two weeks ago.
Of the 33 people fighting Covid in hospital, it is understood most are linked to the church.
Members of the church get tested for Covid-19 in South Auckland last week. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Spokesman for the Assembly of God Church of Samoa, Jerome Mika, said members remained worried about the situation, but were being offered solid support from church and community leaders alike.
"A lot of people are still apprehensive and worried about what's happening, but we're just trying to help them out," he said.
"It is what it is. Most who have tested positive are in [managed isolation and quarantine]."
Staying united in hope and faith
Just over 500 people were at a church service held on the Sunday before the alert level 4 lockdown - on August 15 - that was later linked to a positive case or cases.
Covid-19 quickly started to spread through families and households - not unexpected with the Delta variant and especially when taken into account that many Pasifika and Samoan families are made up of multi-generational households.
On Saturday, some families linked to the church reported a lack of water at the Novotel Ellerslie hotel MIQ facility.
A woman told 1 News her family were told they needed to pay for extra bottles of water and that the tap in the bathroom - immediately next to the toilet - was sufficient to drink from.
Church spokesman Jerome Mika speaks to media. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Mika acknowledged they had dealt with those concerns. But that they had since been fixed by officials in MIQ.
"They try to find ways to be culturally responsive," he said.
"There were concerns, generally, earlier. But we've been able to resolve them with MIQ."
Despite the testing times they were going through, things were going well now, overall, Mika said.
"People are just trying to stay strong and get better. Everyone's trying."
Referring to some of the racist remarks the church had copped from some members of the public, he said things were now running smoothly and the main focus was to get everyone well again.
"Compared to what some of our church community faced before, we're okay."
Mika said many of their elderly members had tested positive for the virus - as well as youth members and young children.
Members and community leaders were meeting regularly via online Zoom meetings and the church had set up a dedicated crisis management team.
Pacific Healthcare providers were also still working closely with church leaders to continue to distribute groceries and food parcels to those families having to isolate for two weeks.
The fact that Pacific healthcare staff could speak Samoan had helped hugely with communicating vital and important Covid-specific information, especially for the elderly members of the church.
