Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: 28 Covid-related deaths, 7970 new community cases reported today, 381 people in hospital

There are 7970 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today.

The Ministry of Health reported a further 28 Covid-related deaths.

The deaths reported today include one person who died in February, five in March, 11 in April and seven who have died over the previous seven days.

Of the people whose deaths were reported today, two people were from Northland, five from Auckland, three from Waikato, three from Bay of Plenty, two from Whanganui, three from the Wellington region, four from the Canterbury region and six from the Southern region.

One was aged in their 40s, one was in their 50s, two were in their 60s, eight were in their 70s, 11 were in their 80s and five people were in their 90s.

Eighteen were men and 10 were women.

The deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 902. The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 15.

The ministry said two previously reported deaths had been removed from the total as it had been determined they were not a Covid-19 case.

There are 381 people in hospital with the virus, including 10 in intensive care.

The cases in hospital today are in: Northland (eight), Waitematā (50), Counties Manukau (32), Auckland (85), Waikato (44), Bay of Plenty (17), Lakes (five), Tairāwhiti (one), Hawke's Bay (14), Taranaki (10), Whanganui (one), MidCentral (23), Wairarapa (one), Hutt Valley (four), Capital and Coast (12), Nelson Marlborough (six), Canterbury (44), South Canterbury (two), West Coast (four) and Southern (18).

The locations of today's 7970 community cases are Northland (252), Auckland (2633), Waikato (594), Bay of Plenty (254), Lakes (151), Hawke's Bay (256), MidCentral (261), Whanganui (95), Taranaki (209), Tairāwhiti (75), Wairarapa (87), Capital and Coast (498), Hutt Valley (190), Nelson Marlborough (282), Canterbury (1172), South Canterbury (152), Southern (744) and the West Coast (62).

Today's seven-day rolling average of community case numbers is 7420, down from 7746 last Tuesday.

In total, there are 51,929 active community cases of the virus in New Zealand. "Active cases" were identified in the past seven days and were not yet classified as recovered.

A total of 77 Covid-19 cases have been detected at the border.

On vaccinations, 95.2 per cent of eligible people aged 12 and older have received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine and 70.8 per cent of those eligible for a booster have had one.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has again tested negative for Covid and feeling well after fiance Clarke Gayford contracted the infection at the weekend.

She remains in isolation along with 3-year-old daughter Neve and is handling affairs of the nation from her residence.

Yesterday there were 9173 new cases in the community and 14 Covid-related deaths were reported.

There were 385 people in hospital with the virus, including 13 in intensive care.

The seven-day rolling average was 7927, slightly less than last Tuesday's 7943.

Figures collated from the Herald show the seven-day average of cases has tracked up across all Auckland DHBs since mid-to-late April.

Cases peaked in Auckland on March 4 when 13,252 new infections were reported. The seven-day moving average of cases peaked the next day.

Cases then declined to the seven-day moving average low point on April 19 of 1569.

Since then, the moving average has risen 50 per cent to 2390 yesterday.

The moving average of cases in Auckland's Waitematā DHB area as of May 9 - 999 - is around the same level as it was on March 31, when it was 990. Average cases dipped to around 614 on April 18.

In Counties Manukau, average Covid cases are now 704 - around the same level as April 5 - after dipping to around 462 on April 18.

The seven-day average of cases on May 9 in Auckland DHB was 822, similar to the 813 on March 28.

University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker said the tick-up of cases in Auckland was a "gentle increase" over three weeks compared to the "very dramatic rise" in cases when Omicron arrived in New Zealand.

"Auckland is important because it is more than a third of the population and it was also the place that had the earliest peak so that's probably going to give an indication of what we'd see around the rest of the country eventually."

An Auckland school is dealing with a Covid outbreak that has already affected 200 students over two days.

All students at Albany Junior High School will return to online learning tomorrow for seven days as the school works to control the outbreak.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to announce today that the country's full border reopening will be brought forward by three months from October to July.

The final part of the staged border reopening will open the country back up to all visa categories - including tourists, workers, families and students.