There are 981 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today.
File image. Photo: 123RF
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said the new cases were in Northland (21), Auckland (768), Waikato (82), Bay of Plenty (23), Lakes (12), Hawke’s Bay (5), MidCentral (5), Taranaki (1), Tairāwhiti (6), Wellington (6), Hutt Valley (14), Wairarapa (12), Nelson Marlborough (2), Canterbury (4), South Canterbury (1) and Southern (19).
“Once again, the further increase in new cases today is another reminder that, as expected, the highly transmissible Omicron variant is now spreading in our communities as we have seen in other countries,” the ministry said.
Thirty-nine people with Covid-19 are in hospitals in Whangārei, Auckland, Waikato, Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch – none in ICU or HDU.
The average age of hospitalisations is 55.
At the border, there are 25 new Covid-19 cases – eight of which are historical. The cases at the border are from India, Malaysia and 14 of them are unknown.
There is now a total of 4960 active community cases. In total, there have been 21,195 cases in New Zealand.
On vaccinations, 20,739 boosters were administered yesterday despite the wild weather.
“The booster vaccine offers a high level of protection against Omicron, so if it’s been three months since you got your second dose, please get your booster as soon as possible,” the ministry said.
There were also 241 first doses given yesterday, 506 second doses and 1268 paediatric doses.
The new total comes after yesterday’s 810 new community cases.
While that may be a new high for the country, University of Otago epidemiologist professor Michael Baker said the real number could be more like 8000.
Today’s update comes as Cabinet prepares to meet this afternoon to discuss the surge in positive cases.
The government has already revealed the next phases of the plan for the Omicron outbreak.
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