Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: South Island yet to pass Omicron peak cases still rising

The South Island does not appear to have passed its Omicron peak yet with case numbers continuing to rise. Photo / George Heard

The South Island does not appear to have passed its Omicron peak yet with case numbers continuing to rise.

The Canterbury District Health Board reported 2494 new cases in the region on Thursday.

That was up from 2403 on Wednesday but lower than the record 2642 cases reported on Tuesday.

All of the five other district health boards in the South Island have seen an increase in cases today on the day before.

The Ministry of Health reported 1220 new cases in the Southern DHB area today, up from 1203 yesterday.

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.