Live: Covid deaths pass grim milestone, more than 20,000 new cases

There are 20,087 new community cases of Covid-19 and a further 11 Covid-related deaths - taking New Zealand past a grim milestone since the pandemic began.

Today's Covid-related deaths take NZ's toll of publicly reported deaths to 210 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths to nine.

There are 960 people in hospital with the virus, including 31 in intensive care, said the Ministry of Health.

One of the people whose death was reported today was in their 30s, one person was in their 60s, one in their 70s, four in their 80s and four in their 90s.

Of the 11 people who have died, two are from Northland, five are from the Auckland region, one is from Bay of Plenty and three from the Wellington region.

"This is a very sad time for whānau and friends and our thoughts and condolences are with them at this time," the ministry said.

The seven-day rolling average of community cases is 17,111 and there are now 119,766 active community cases in New Zealand. Meanwhile, 43 cases of Covid-19 were detected at the border.

Today's community cases are in Northland (727), Auckland (4122), Waikato (1726), Bay of Plenty (1290), Lakes (505), Hawke's Bay (1064), MidCentral (919), Whanganui (388), Taranaki (679), Tairāwhiti (339), Wairarapa (276), Capital and Coast (1259), Hutt Valley (720), Nelson Marlborough (584), Canterbury (3468), South Canterbury (319), Southern (1,631) and the West Coast (56).

Only 438 cases were detected via PCR testing and the rest were identified using RATs. The average age of those in hospital is 59.

More than half a million cases of the virus have now been reported since the pandemic hit our shores in 2020 and yesterday the country had the highest number of hospitalisations yet.

The Government has announced it was scrapping the limit on outdoor gatherings from Friday and signalled the end of vaccine pass use and mandates for some industries from next month.

The number of people allowed to gather inside increases from 100 to 200 under the changes to the red light traffic setting kicking in on Friday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

Masks will continue to be used, but outdoor concerts, sports and other outdoor events would be able to resume under the red setting.

The 960 people hospitalised with Covid-19 are in Northland (23), North Shore (158), Middlemore (217), Auckland (201), Waikato (85), Bay of Plenty (38), Lakes (12), Tairāwhiti (4), Hawke's Bay (39), Taranaki (11), Whanganui (6), MidCentral (21), Hutt Valley (15), Capital and Coast (40), Wairarapa (5), Nelson Marlborough (12), Canterbury (51), South Canterbury (3) and Southern (19) hospitals.

Of those hospitalised in the northern region, and excluding those in emergency departments, 96 cases or 17 per cent are either unvaccinated or aren't eligible for vaccination.

Four per cent or 21 cases were partially immunised or have only received one dose.

The number of cases that were double vaccinated at least seven days before being reported as a case is 204 (37 per cent), while 210 cases (38 per cent) had received their booster at least seven days before being reported as a case. The vaccination status of 22 cases (4 per cent) is unknown.

The ministry said of those cases in Auckland and Northland hospitals (aged 12 and older and whose vaccination status was recorded by public health), 15 per cent had not received any doses of the vaccine and were more than three times over-represented in hospitalisation figures.

"Getting boosted continues to be one of the most important ways people can protect themselves from Omicron and severe illness."

"Please if you are due a vaccination, whether it be a second shot or booster, make an appointment today. There is a much lower risk of being hospitalised or of severe illness if you are up to date with your vaccinations," the ministry said.

To date, 96.3 per cent of people have had their first dose of vaccine, 95.1 per cent have had their second dose and 72.8 per cent of those eligible have had their booster.

Of Māori aged 12 and older, 91.1 per cent have had one dose, 87.9 per cent have had two doses and 58.5 per cent of those eligible have had a booster dose.

Of Pacific peoples, 98.1 per cent have had their first dose, 96.3 per cent have had their second dose and 59.4 per cent have had their booster. The ministry said that there had been negative movement in the booster uptake for Māori and Pacific populations, which was the result of more people becoming eligible to receive a booster.

Of children aged 5-11, 53.8 per cent have had one dose of vaccine and 9.9 per cent have had their second dose.

For Māori children, aged 5-11, 34.6 per cent have had one dose and 4.7 per cent have had two doses. For eligible Pacific children, these figures are 46.8 per cent and 5.1 per cent, respectively.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday that Covid case numbers had passed the peak in metropolitan Auckland and were decreasing in all three DHBs.

The analysis also showed increases across the rest of the country were slowing. Case numbers were still "very much on the increase" in the South Island, however.

Hospitalisations were levelling off in the north, Bloomfield said. They were expected to drop this week.

In the Delta outbreak the hospitalisation rate was 8 per cent, while in Auckland for Omicron it was 0.9 per cent.

People were on average staying five days in ICU.

On the deaths being recorded, Bloomfield said Omicron was not a trivial illness.

Flu had about 500-600 deaths a year. At 10 deaths a day, Bloomfield said this was clearly more deadly than flu. Part of that was it was much more transmissible.

He urged people to do all they could to reduce the prevalence of the virus, and getting vaccinated was one of the most important things.