There are 19 new Covid-19 community cases to report on Thursday, the Ministry of Health says.
The new community cases are in Auckland (6), Waikato (5), Bay of Plenty (5), Northland (1) and Taranaki (2).
Thirty-eight people are in hospital with the virus, including four in an intensive care or high dependency unit.
Forty-three cases have been detected at the border, a jump on Wednesday's 23.
"While whole genome sequencing of these cases is expected soon, the likelihood is that Omicron will continue to be the most prevalent variant at our borders," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the two new community cases in Taranaki had been announced on Wednesday but are included in Thursday's numbers.
There is another case in Taranaki but it will be included in Friday's numbers.
They are a household contact of an earlier case and are linked to the Eltham cluster.
They have been in isolation across the festive period.
The five new cases in the Waikato are in Coromandel (2), Tairua (1), and Hamilton (1). The remaining case is pending a location confirmation, the ministry said.
Three of the five new cases have been linked to earlier cases. Two remain under investigation.
The Bay of Plenty's five new cases are in Tauranga (3) and the Western Bay of Plenty District (2).
All of the cases are contacts of earlier cases.
There is also one case to report in Taupō, the ministry said, but is still being investigated for potential links.
Thursday's 43 border cases had arrived in the country between December 26 and Tuesday, January 4.
They had tested positive for the virus between day 0 and 8. The bulk of them tested positive at day 1.
The cases had travelled from the US, United Arab Emirates, UK, Australia, India, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, Germany, Fiji and Sri Lanka.
41,000 get booster shots
A jump in the number of people receiving their Covid-19 booster shots was recorded on Wednesday, the ministry also announced.
A total of 41,165 people had received the shot.
The ministry said the jump in booster shot numbers was expected as those who had been vaccinated four months ago become eligible for one on Wednesday.
Health officials also saw an increase in the number of Kiwis getting their first and second doses in the past 24 hours — 904 and 3191 respectively.
Changes to pre-departure testing
The ministry also issued a reminder about changes to pre-departure testing in its Thursday statement.
From Friday, those entering the country must get a PCR test from within 48 hours of departure, rather than 72.
A temporary exemption has been issued for those coming from 105 specified countries and jurisdictions where getting a PCR test may be difficult or not possible.
A negative rapid antigen test or loop-mediated isothermal amplification test result are required instead. These tests need to be taken within 24 hours of departure and must be supervised by a health professional, which includes pharmacists.
These tests must also be verified in writing in the jurisdiction of origin, the ministry said.
The changes were announced by the Government last year.
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