Wellington [New Zealand], February 22 (ANI/Xinhua): New Zealand recorded 2,846 new community cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Among the new community infections, 1,802 were in the largest city Auckland. The rest of the cases were confirmed across the nation, including 36 in Northland, 285 in Waikato, 105 in Canterbury, 206 in Southern, and 86 in Bay of Plenty, according to the ministry.

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In addition, 15 new cases were detected at the New Zealand border, said the ministry.There are currently 143 COVID-19 patients being treated in New Zealand hospitals, with one of them in the intensive care unit, it said.

New Zealand has reported a total of 35,771 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, including 18,628 active community cases which have been identified in the past 21 days and not yet classified as recovered, the ministry said.

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The country is at the highest 'red setting' under its COVID-19 Protection Framework. At 'red settings', face masks become mandatory in many indoor environments and gatherings are limited to 100 people. (ANI/Xinhua)

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