There are 204 new community cases of Covid-19, with 135 of those in Auckland alone. Daily case numbers have remained fairly static since the peak of more than 240 over last week.
New cases were also confirmed in Northland, Waikato, Lakes, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, MidCentral, Wellington, the Hutt Valley, Nelson Marlborough and Canterbury.
At the border, 46 cases have been confirmed since yesterday.
There are currently 16 people in hospital with Covid-19, none of which are in intensive care. The number of Covid-related hospitalisations has slowly crept up since the beginning of the omicron outbreak.
On the vaccine front, the Ministry of Health said today marked the start of “The Big Boost” – a week of action aimed at driving up booster numbers. Just over 60,000 booster doses were administered nationwide yesterday.
“A booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine provides a higher level of protection against severe disease or hospitalisation from the omicron variant than the two-dose course,” said the Ministry of Health. “Being fully vaccinated with two shots provides great protection against delta, but boosters are the best way to fight omicron.”
The Big Boost campaign will see pop-up vaccination centres opened and existing centres operating for longer hours.
Today’s case details
Auckland continues to be the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak with 135 new cases in the community. Health and welfare providers are now supporting 3,177 people in the region to isolate at home, including 1,218 cases.
There are eight new cases in Northland, five of these are in Kerikeri and three are in Whangārei. All eight remain under investigation to determine any possible links to previously confirmed cases.
There are 35 new cases in Waikato. Of these, 21 are linked to previous cases and 14 are under investigation. Twenty-two are in Hamilton, five in Cambridge, two in Ōhaupō, one in Taupiri, and one in Morrinsville. The locations of the remaining four are currently being confirmed.
There are two new cases in the Lakes DHB area – one of which is in Rotorua and one in Taupō. Both these cases have links to previously reported cases.
In Bay of Plenty, 11 new cases were registered overnight: all are either in Tauranga or the wider Western Bay of Plenty. Eight of these cases are linked to previously reported cases, with the remaining three still under investigation.
There’s one new case to report in New Plymouth. Public health staff are continuing to investigate links to existing cases.
Two new cases are in Palmerston North – both household contacts of existing cases.
There are six new cases in the Wellington region today. Three are in Porirua and public health staff are investigating any potential links to previously confirmed cases. There are also three cases to report in Hutt Valley – these are household contacts of existing cases.
There’s one new case in Nelson-Marlborough. Today’s case is linked to a previously reported case.
Finally, there are three new cases in the region. “The third had registered a former Christchurch address but currently lives in Auckland and is being supported by public health staff there.” The other two cases are based in Christchurch, said the ministry, and both cases are still being investigated for links to previous cases.