Of the 13 deaths, four people are from the Auckland region, one from Bay of Plenty, one from Waikato, one from Hawke's Bay, one in Taranaki, one from MidCentral and four from the Wellington region.
Of those to die, one person was in their 30s, three were in their 60s, five in their 70s, three in their 80s, and one in their 90s, said the ministry.
Eight were men and five were women.
From Saturday, there is no limit on outdoor gatherings and the limit for indoor events increases from 100 to 200 people. But the experts urged people to attend events safely and think about the families they would return home to.
Dr Andrew Old, Northern Region Health Coordination Centre chief clinical officer, said while cases were coming down "quite steeply", everyone should protect themselves with masks and social distancing.
He said "past the peak doesn't mean out of the woods" and reminded people we were continuing to get thousands of cases per day.
Old said people should enjoy the weekend but stay home if sick and get a test - and report that test result.
