There were 521 new cases in Nelson Marlborough and 212 in South Canterbury.
On the West Coast, there were 60 new cases today - double the number reported yesterday.
It comes after reports of a "significant cluster" of Covid-19 cases at the Gloriavale Christian community.
It's understood that members were now self-isolating inside the closed religious community, which has about 600 members on sprawling land at Haupiri, 60km inland from Greymouth.
The south was behind parts of the rest of the country that have already passed the peak.
Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said Auckland had almost certainly passed its Omicron peak, and it seemed Waikato and Northland had too.
He said case and hospital data also suggested Taranaki, Lakes (in and around Rotorua) and Wellington's Capital and Coast health board regions had peaked or were peaking.
