Four more people have died with Covid-19 today, reports the Ministry of Health, taking the total number of reported deaths to 258 and the seven-day rolling average to 12.

One of the people who died was from the Auckland region, two were from the Wellington region, and one the Otago Southland region. One was in their 80s and three were in their 90s. Two were men and two were women.

There are 848 people in hospital with Covid-19, 28 of whom are in ICU. “It’s encouraging to see the total number of cases in hospital, while slightly higher today than yesterday, remains considerably lower that the peak of over 1,000 cases in hospital from five days ago,” said the ministry. “This reflects the decrease in hospitalisations across Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, some of the first regions to be affected by omicron.”

There are 10,239 new community cases of Covid-19 today, the lowest total in over a month – but it should be noted that numbers are often lower at the weekend. Auckland case numbers continue to fall, with 1,886 reported today.