Case rates and wastewater rates indicated that cases were increasing across the country.
There had been a "significant increase" in Covid cases due to the BA.5 variant. Case rates are now higher in people over 65.
Of today's 21 reported deaths, two were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, one was from Lakes, two were from MidCentral, one was from Whanganui, three were from Wellington region, four were from Nelson/Marlborough, three were from Canterbury/West Coast and four were from Southern.
One person was aged in their 40s, one was in their 60s, four were in their 70s, 10 were in their 80s and five were aged over 90. Of these people, 13 were women and eight were men.
One of the deaths was in April and one was in June - both are being reported after a cause of death assessment was completed, which can take some time.
The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 9528 - this time last week it was 9554.
Those in hospital with Covid are in Northland (28), Waitematā (135), Counties Manukau (57), Auckland (102), Waikato (60), Bay of Plenty (43), Lakes (20), Hawke's Bay (35), MidCentral (34), Whanganui (17), Taranaki (15), Tairāwhiti (4), Wairarapa (7), Capital & Coast/Hutt (50), Nelson Marlborough (15), Canterbury/West Coast (115), South Canterbury (9) and Southern (42).
The seven-day rolling average of hospitalisations is 764, up from 613 a week ago.
The average age of those in hospital is 64.
*Dr Ashley Bloomfield earlier reported there were 10,772 new cases of Covid; these included border cases.
New subvariant confirmed in NZ
Bloomfield said two cases of the B.A2.75 subvariant have been confirmed in the community.
At this stage, he said, there was no need to change public health measures and there was no current evidence that suggests the variant leads to more severe illness.
With Covid-19 cases expected to rise in the coming weeks, Bloomfield called on people to take simple steps to protect themselves - vaccination, mask-wearing and staying home if they are unwell.
22 meningococcal cases
Bloomfield said 22 meningococcal cases have also been recorded, but at this stage there is not an outbreak of the disease.
He warned that the disease is severe and can lead to death. "Early intervention can be life-saving."
Change to Covid death reporting
Public Health deputy director-general Dr Andrew Old said the agency will now report Covid deaths as people who died because of the virus or as a contributor.
Until now, all deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 result have been reported, as had been done by other countries.
The updated approach would come into effect on the website from Friday and would be how the figures are reported to the World Health Organisation.
Officials would also continue to report deaths within 28 days of having Covid-19.
As of yesterday, 1784 people had died overall – 772 because of Covid-19 and Covid-19 was considered a contributing factor in a further 414. A total of 345 were not related to Covid and 286 deaths were yet to be classified.
Old said the actual number of deaths using the new formula was 1252 cases where Covid-19 was the underlying or contributing factor to their death.
The ministry is also now reporting an additional 69 deaths within 28 days of having the virus.
These were cases that had Covid-19 but were not reported as deaths initially. All of the deaths have occurred since March 23.
Bloomfield encouraged those who were organising events to think carefully about the measures they could put in place to protect people, and advised people not to attend events if they were unwell.
He also strongly recommended schools introduce mask-wearing for the first four weeks of the new term.
We need to "keep our wits about us" as subvariants spread overseas, Bloomfield said, and there was always a chance of a more severe variant emerging.
"There is still a global pandemic; it's not what's just happening in New Zealand, it's about what's happening globally.
"We're not out of the woods yet."
Bloomfield said around 72 per cent of people have had the first booster shot, and so far the uptake of the second booster has been good.
Around 30 per cent of those eligible have already had it, he said.
Bloomfield looking forward to a 'good break'
Bloomfield finishes in his role next week and said he was looking forward to a "good break".
His leaving event tonight had been pared back because of the current outbreak, he said.
Bloomfield kicked for touch on a question about whether Ian Foster should remain as All Blacks coach.
He said he had a hoarse throat after attending Saturday night's loss in Wellington.
Despite being about to enter the job market, Bloomfield said: "I will not be in the running for the coaching job".
Green Party scraps in-person conference
Last week, Bloomfield warned that the outbreak was expected to increase and peak late this month.
This morning the Green Party announced it was scrapping its annual conference in Christchurch this weekend and would instead hold it online, saying it was in response to the Covid-19 surge and concerns people would get infected at the conference.
Yesterday, 7612 new community cases were reported – down from days of more than 11,000 late last week. The seven-day rolling average of cases was 9689 - compared with 9281 cases at the same time last week.
However, weekend numbers tend to be lower and hospitalisations had risen to 797 people, including 20 in intensive care.
Newsroom has also reported the Ministry of Health will run a survey to try to get a clearer picture of the true extent of the outbreak.
Bloomfield said last week that wastewater testing indicated only half of the actual number of cases were being reported. He said that could be a combination of people either not testing or not reporting their positive results, and people who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms so had not tested.
