Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: 6440 new Covid cases, 28 deaths, 704 in hospital

There are 6440 new Covid community cases reported today, with 704 people in hospital.

There were 28 virus-related deaths reported in the Ministry of Health's latest daily update.

The seven-day rolling average of cases is 6355. Last Wednesday, it was 8111.

After today's update, there have been 1589 deaths confirmed to date as attributable to Covid-19 in New Zealand, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor.

In the past seven days, there has been an average of 22 deaths confirmed each day as being attributable to the virus.

Of those reported in today's update, eight of the people who died were from Auckland, two were from Waikato, two were from Lakes, one was from Tairāwhiti, four were from Hawke's Bay, one was from Taranaki, four were from Wellington, one was from Nelson Marlborough, two were from Canterbury and three were from the Southern region.

One was in their 40s, one was in their 50s, two were in their 60s, eight were in their 70s, ten were in their 80s and six people were aged over 90.

"This is a very sad time for whānau and friends of those who have died and our thoughts and condolences are with them," the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Sixteen of the people whose death was reported today were women and 12 were men.

Hundreds of people with Covid-19 are in hospitals across the country. Eleven are in intensive care.

The locations of the hospitalised cases are: Northland (13), Waitematā (69), Counties Manukau (66), Auckland (88), Waikato (97), Bay of Plenty (24), Lakes (12), Hawke's Bay (30), MidCentral (32), Whanganui (eight), Taranaki (22), Tairāwhiti (three), Wairarapa (six), Capital & Coast (25), Hutt Valley (10), Nelson Marlborough (18), Canterbury (118), West Coast (six), South Canterbury (21) and Southern (36).

The seven day rolling average of Covid-19 hospitalisations is 772, compared to 782 this time last week, and the average age of current hospitalisations is 65.

Yesterday there were 7113 new cases in the community, up by nearly 2000 compared to 5312 on Monday.

There were 738 people in hospital with the virus on Tuesday, including 15 in intensive care.

Of the 6440 Covid-19 cases reported today, 270 had recently travelled overseas.