New Zealand has 60 new COVID-19 cases

The Ministry of Health in New Zealand has announced 60 new community cases of Covid-19 this weekend.

This figure is the most in nearly six weeks when 75 cases were revealed. In a statement,  the Health Ministry said 41 of today's new infections have been linked to earlier cases. The ministry said there are 29 infected in the hospitals, including seven in intensive care.

There were 20,421 tests carried out in New Zealand, including 7071 in Auckland. There have now been 1587 cases in the current Delta outbreak, and 4265 Covid-19 cases in total in New Zealand.

NZD/USD has been largely unaffected by community case reports, for the nation has so far fared far better than most other nations reporting cases. The currency will be more prone to risks associated with the rise in the greenback. 

''Near term, the established 0.6860-0.7000 range may hold much of the price action ahead of the FOMC minutes, which will be released mid-week,'' analysts at ANZ Bank said. 

''Despite the payrolls miss, the fall in the unemployment rate and strength in average earnings growth helped to keep expectations over a Fed tapering announcement in November intact. That is well discounted and in the very short term, DXY also looks confined to a 0.9350-0.9450 range. The relatively neutral reaction in the kiwi to the OCR rate hike last week looks poised to continue for the moment.''