The seven-day rolling average of community cases is 5451 - last Thursday it was 6059.
Of today's deaths, two were in their 30s, one was in their 50s, one was in their 60s, three were in their 70s, six were in their 80s, and two were aged over 90.
Three were from Northland, five were from the Auckland region, one from Taranaki, one from MidCentral, one from the Wellington region, one from Canterbury, one from South Canterbury and two from Southern.
The reported deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1374.
The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 12.
There are 38,138 active cases of Covid-19 in the community.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 1,253,854 cases in New Zealand.
Yesterday, 4247 PCR tests and 11,919 rapid antigen tests were processed.
Over four million Kiwis have had at least one dose of the vaccine and 2,670,958 are boosted.
Yesterday, 38 first doses, 47 second doses, 75 third primary doses, 870 booster doses, 21 paediatric first doses and 292 paediatric second doses of the vaccine were administered.
Health officials warn of challenging winter
While daily Covid-19 cases have plateaued, health officials say the country will face a challenging winter and they are urging Kiwis to pitch in to get through the season.
Yesterday there were 5554 new cases in the community and a further 11 virus-related deaths.
There were 368 people in hospital, including seven in intensive care.
An Auckland trust is also urging people to be vigilant this winter.
Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust said it is seeing families being reinfected with Covid-19 for the third time.
The West Auckland community service's clinical director Ngaire Harris said some households were now dealing with "multiple" infections of Covid-19, including catching Omicron for a second time.
Concerningly, those families often weren't reporting positive results to the Ministry of Health.
On top of that, the return of influenza had also begun taking a toll.
"The message we're trying to push is whānau wellbeing – staying well and keeping well," said Harris.
"We are learning to live with [Covid-19] – and whānau really do care about their health now, and do have a greater awareness of what the symptoms are."
The scale of reinfection in New Zealand isn't known as the ministry doesn't report that specific information, but a new system to collect the data was being developed.
The ministry said it has been planning for a challenging winter.
"Covid-19 continues to circulate in the community and we have also started to see the impact of winter respiratory illnesses, like flu, which are putting additional pressure on our health system."
"We need everyone to do their bit to help us get through winter."
Pre-departure tests no longer needed
Meanwhile, as of next Tuesday, people travelling to New Zealand will no longer need a negative pre-departure test.
Pre-departure testing is one of the last border restrictions still in place.
Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall said the Government had "taken a careful and staged approach to reopening our borders to ensure we aren't overwhelmed with an influx of Covid-19 cases. Our strategy has worked and as a result it's safe to lift pre-departure test requirements much sooner than planned.
"I'm advised the challenges pre-departure tests pose to visitors are now no longer outweighed by the public health benefits," she said.
The current rule means people coming to New Zealand by air must get a negative PCR, RAT or Lamp test 24-48 hours before departing on the flight to New Zealand depending on the type of test.
In the US, The Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisers gave a thumbs-up to vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
The outside experts voted unanimously that the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks for children under 5 - that's roughly 18 million youngsters. They are the last age group in the US without access to Covid 19 vaccines and many parents have been anxious to protect their little children.
If all the regulatory steps are cleared, shots should be available next week.
