There are 167 new Covid-19 cases in the community on Thursday, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
Of the cases 142 were in Auckland, five in Northland, 17 in Waikato, one in Bay of Plenty, one in Lakes District and one in Canterbury.
Of the Northland cases, two are in Dargaville, one is in Whangārei, one is in the Far North and one is in Kaikohe. All of the cases are linked.
In the Bay of Plenty, there are actually two new cases - one of these cases is in Mount Maunganui and the other is in Tauranga - but the Tauranga case was discovered on Thursday morning so will be added to Friday's official tally.
"This follows further positive detections of Covid-19 reported yesterday in wastewater samples in both Tauranga and Mount Maunganui," the ministry said.
"Interviews are continuing to determine case movements. Any locations of interest will be added to the Ministry’s website as these are identified."
In Christchurch, a case was announced on Wednesday but is being officially added to today's case numbers.
There is another case which is a household contact of the first case and is already in isolation. They will be added to the official tally on Friday.
As well, there are two new Covid-19 cases to announce in the Mid-Central region, taking the total in the region to four, but the new cases will be formally included in the region’s total on Friday.
"This includes one case in the town of Ashhurst and one in Levin. Both people are likely to be linked to known cases."
The ministry said data was still being collected for cases in Waikato which were discovered on Thursday morning.
"The continued spread of Covid-19 to regions throughout New Zealand is a reminder that everyone needs to heed the advice that will help keep our communities as safe as possible," the ministry said.
"That includes ensuring you and your loved ones are fully vaccinated if eligible, that you wear a mask, keep a safe distance from people outside your bubble, and keep track of your movements outside your home."
There are also two deaths from the virus to report.
One death was a woman in her 80s at Middlemore Hospital.
The other was a man in his 90s at North Shore Hospital. The man, who had a number of underlying health conditions, had been living at Auckland's Edmonton Meadows Care Home.
"Our thoughts are with their families and friends at this deeply sad time," the ministry said.
The total number of cases in this Delta outbreak is now 6334, of which 2162 have recovered.
There are now 85 people with Covid-19 in hospital including two cases being assessed. The number is down from 88 on Wednesday.
There are six cases in intensive care or a high dependency unit.
There are 35 at Auckland City Hospital, 26 at Middlemore Hospital, 19 at North Shore Hospital, three at Waikato Hospital and one each at Waitakere and Whangarei hospitals.
The average age of people with Covid-19 in hospital is 51.
There are 5866 contacts linked to this outbreak, of which 70 per cent have been contacted and 52 per cent have received at least one test.
As of 12pm on Thursday, there were 99 locations of interest on the Ministry of Health's website, including one new exposure site.
On Wednesday, 34,182 Covid-19 tests were processed, including 15,810 in Auckland.
In total, more than 4.57 million tests for Covid-19 have been processed since the pandemic began.
On vaccines, 20,408 jabs were administered across the country on Wednesday, made up of 6197 first doses and 14,211 second doses.
In total, more than 7.27 million Covid-19 vaccinations have been administered in New Zealand to date.
There was also one new border cases to report on Thursday.
The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand is now 9090 since the pandemic began.
Thursday's update comes after 194 new community cases on Wednesday.
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