There are now more people in hospital with Covid than at any previous point in the pandemic. That's down to Omicron's transmissibility - the sheer volume of infections it produces.
But case trends in Auckland - the region that was hit earliest in the country - provide some hope. With the caveat that case numbers are a broad indicator now, daily figures for Auckland have been declining - from 12,530 at the start of the month to 7234 on Thursday.
The ministry said on Wednesday that the region made up 56 per cent of the total new cases reported between February 27 and to March 5, and numbers had "levelled off".
If there's another storm brewing, it could be BA.02 - the more infectious subvariant of Omicron. Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said BA.02 is taking over from BA.01 as it has done around the world.
It is believed to be pushing up case numbers in New South Wales which had 16,288 Covid cases on Thursday - the highest figure since January 27. Dr Marianne Gale, the state's deputy chief health officer, said more gatherings and less mask-wearing were driving up cases. She said it was unknown whether BA.02 is more severe than BA.01.
Hospital admissions are also going up in England with different theories suggesting why, including the dominance of BA.02, waning booster effectiveness, less use of masks and self-isolation allowing more people to get infected, and testing of patients sick with other things picking up Covid.
The subvariant could well extend the tail of New Zealand's Omicron surge with our booster shot levels a long way from where they should be.
