Of the 622 patients in hospital, 29 are Northland, 99 in Waitemata, 100 in Counties Manukau, 90 in Auckland, 63 in Waikato, 35 in Bay of Plenty, seven in Lakes, three in Tairāwhiti, 19 in Hawke's Bay, 11 in Taranaki, 10 in Whanganui, 26 in MidCentral, three in Wairarapa, 16 in Hutt Valley, 15 in Capital and Coast,13 in Nelson Marlborough, 47 in Canterbury, six in South Canterbury, one in West Coast and 29 in Southern.
There has now been a 20 per cent drop in Covid case rates since March 27, Bloomfield said.
Case numbers were now falling in "pretty much" every DHB area.
However he warned of the "long tail" of the virus and said to keep bringing case numbers down it was important people get their booster Covid shot, wear masks indoors when not at home and to stay home when sick.
The number of people in hospital with Covid is now coming down but is falling at a slower rate than case numbers, Bloomfield said.
Across Auckland there are now about 20 people being admitted to hospital with Covid each day.
The number of reported community cases is expected to continue to fluctuate day to day and is usually lower over the weekend with less reporting of results and testing, according to the MoH statement.
Third death linked to Covid vaccine
Asked to comment on a third death linked to the Covid vaccine, Bloomfield said the case involved a teenager and was a "very sad" matter.
There was still some doubt it was linked to the vaccine.
An independent board had reached the conclusion it was likely the death was vaccine-related but that health teams will never know this for sure.
The death was sudden and the teen had not suffered any previous problems, Bloomfield said.
This teenager had a very unfortunate experience because his symptoms were not diagnosed and the possible link to the vaccine was not diagnosed.
The death had become a learning experience and GPs had now seen a number of people with chest pains who are concerned it may be related to the vaccine.
There was now greater awareness of heart issues being a rare, but possible, side effect of the vaccine, Bloomfield said.
The teenager's parents did not want his death to be used by people to promote anti-vaccine messages.
The seven-day rolling average of case numbers continues to decline and sits at 9731, down from 12,875 last Tuesday.
There new cases are in Northland (559), Auckland (1984), Waikato (965), Bay of Plenty (536), Lakes (214), Hawke's Bay (474), MidCentral (534), Whanganui (225), Taranaki (370), Tairāwhiti (111), Wairarapa (137, Capital and Coast (683), Hutt Valley (355), Nelson Marlborough (404), Canterbury (1,813), South Canterbury (250), Southern (1331), and West Coast (108). The locations of 10 cases are unknown.
There are also 47 new cases at the border.
The total number of confirmed cases during the outbreak sits at 784,285.
The 11-millionth Covid-19 vaccination was administered yesterday, while 72.7 per cent of those eligible are boosted.
The MoH is reminding people of the three things they can do to protect themselves including being up to date with vaccinations including a booster, wearing a mask indoors except in your own home and staying home and avoiding others if unwell.
Flu outbreak could hit as NZ still battling Omicron
Bloomfield urged people to also get their flu vaccination. Flu vaccinations are free and even if people haven't had a flu vaccine before, now was a good year to start, he said.
Bloomfield said it was hard to know what would happen over winter if there was a flu outbreak coinciding with Omicron.
It was likely this year's strain of the flu would emerge in Australia and Singapore first and this gave New Zealand health teams a bit of warning about what to expect.
So far there had been less influenza type flu viruses reported in New Zealand than in a typical year, Bloomfield said.
Ministry of Health chief science adviser Dr Ian Town said the pandemic had created unprecedented pressure on the nation's health system.
There was now an anti-viral therapeutic drug that was also available for treatment of Covid in a further sign of how scientific researching was helping contain the outbreak.
A study started in February by researchers at Victoria University in Wellington aimed to talk to people who had Covid in New Zealand before December 2021.
Town said more than 400 people who had Covid had talked to researchers with another 400 people considering taking part in the research project.
Anyone who had Covid before December last year who wants to take part in the research can call 0800 800 581.
Town said the ministry was also funding other research, such as speeding up genome sequencing of different Covid variants.
This research could now be applied to other viruses, such as influenza.
One of the most high profile studies was by the Medical Research Institute of NZ found that the steroid dexamethasone could achieve good treatment results for people with Covid.
Town said the Government had commissioned studies to understand what will happen if new Covid variants hit New Zealand in the future.
This would consider what will happen with variants that are more infectious and variants that are more deadly.
That study will take the next three to four weeks and will seek to come up with plans for how to deal with new variants.
Town said it was likely these variants will first occur overseas and may be picked up at the border.
The Government will review the public health response settings tomorrow.
Bloomfield said health officials had provided advice to Cabinet yesterday.
An easing of restrictions could mean some or all of the country has the Easter weekend in the less restrictive orange light setting.
Covid modeller Michael Plank said case numbers and hospitalisations were heading in the right direction.
He said the number of people in intensive care units had fallen too, which was good news for a possible move from the current red traffic light setting.
A total of 640 people were in hospital yesterday, including 23 in intensive care.
"Overall, there are signs that that pressure is abating and I think that's promising [for a] potential move to orange," Plank told the Herald.
University of Auckland Associate Professor Collin Tukuitonga said case numbers were still hovering around 10,000 and officials shouldn't rush moving New Zealand to orange.
He said second waves of the outbreak seen in the United Kingdom and the new XE variant should be considered when reviewing the settings.
The ministry yesterday said a person had died in a fatality considered linked to the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Officials first reviewed a report of the death in December 2021.
"At the time, there was not enough information available to determine the potential role of the vaccine," the ministry said.
The person had myocarditis - a heart muscle inflammation - at the time of death.
The ministry said weeks before the person's death, the individual had received a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
This was the third death in New Zealand considered to be linked to vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine.
All three of those cases are now before coroners.
New Zealand's pandemic death toll reached 500, after 11 deaths linked to the virus were reported yesterday.
Monday had 7592 new community cases reported, an increase of more than 1000 on Sunday.
The deaths reported today include 10 people who have died in the past three days and one person who died 12 days ago.
