Omicron outbreak: 211 new cases, 19 hospitalised in Hawke's Bay

The Ministry of Health announced 211 new cases and 19 people hospitalised in Hawke's Bay on Thursday. Photo / Warren Buckland

The Ministry of Health announced 211 new cases and 19 people hospitalised today in Hawke's Bay.

Nationwide there were 16 deaths, taking the total number of publically reported deaths with Covid to 1102.

Of those; seven were from the Auckland region, three were from Canterbury, three were from the Wellington region, one was from Lakes, one was from Bay of Plenty, and one was from Southern.

Of those people, nine were female and seven were male.

Two people were their 60s, two were in their 70s, eight were in their 80s, and four were aged over 90.

The total number of new community cases across the country was 7591.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers is 7,095, while last Thursday it was 7,981.

There are 355 people hospitalised, of which 12 are in ICU or HDU.

Yesterday Hawke's Bay had New Zealand's first detected community case of Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1.

The Ministry of Health said data suggests the subvariant is marginally more transmissible than the currently circulating subvariants, however no changes to current public health settings are required as they were assessed to be adequate.