There are a record 446 community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today including 23 in hospital.
This includes 14 in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board region and 13 in the Lakes District Health Board region. This brings the total number of active cases in BOP to 133 and 105 in Lakes.
Toi Te Ora-Public Health has been approached to clarify the specific locations of these cases within the health board districts.
There are two cases in Rotorua Hospital.
The ministry said there were now 2874 active cases identified in New Zealand the past 21 days and not yet classified as recovered.
Today the Ministry of Health said the increase in cases was a reminder that, as expected, the Omicron variant is spreading in our communities as we have seen in other countries.
"The number of cases will continue to fluctuate from day to day, but our expectation is that cases will continue to increase in the coming weeks.
"All of us can all play our part to slow the spread of the virus, help protect our most vulnerable people from being infected, and ensure our health system is able to manage extra demand for services."
The ministry appealed for anyone with any cold or flu symptoms that could be Covid-19 i to get a test and isolate at home until a negative result is returned.
Yesterday more than 50,000 booster doses were given, bringing the total so far to 1,772,914.
There are several new locations of interest for the region.
Wellington protest
Meanwhile, police have said it might take days for the protest at Parliament to wrap up as it enters its fourth day.
More than 120 people were arrested in a volatile day of "unprecedented" protests yesterday, with stretched police indicating the anti-vaccine mandate occupation could last days.
This morning there were still about 50 tents on the ground and an estimate of a few hundred protesters.
A protester told an NZME reporter they expected more people to join them today, including a big group of school children.