Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: 157 new cases in BOP, 54 in Lakes today

There are 157 new cases in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board area and 54 in the Lakes District Health Board area today.

There are 3297 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today including 179 in hospital and one in ICU.

There are four cases in Tauranga Hospital and three in a Lakes DHB hospital.

There are now 21,648 active Covid-19 community cases with the seven-day rolling average at 2257.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday said phase 3 of the Government's response could be near as cases continue to top records and pressure on testing increases.

There are several new locations of interest for the region.

Protest update

In Wellington, the anti-mandate protest has entered day 16 and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says "gas-lit" protesters should continue to demand they be heard by politicians.

Wellington mayor Andy Foster said he met with the protesters with support from the police.

While he respected the government's decision not to engage with protesters, he said only dialogue was going to resolve the protest.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said calling in the army would be an extreme situation, as police remain convinced that de-escalation is the best strategy.