There are 2365 new Covid-19 community cases in New Zealand on Monday, the Ministry of Health has announced.
The cases are in Northland (50), Auckland (1692), Waikato (136), Bay of Plenty (42), Lakes (24), Hawke’s Bay (23), MidCentral (14), Whanganui (5), Taranaki (4), Tairāwhiti (9), Wairarapa (8), Capital and Coast (89), Hutt Valley (19), Nelson Marlborough (58), Canterbury (105), South Canterbury (1), Southern (86).
The ministry also reported two deaths of people with the virus, both in Auckland.
One was a patient at Middlemore Hospital.
"The family has requested that no further details be released and, out of respect for those wishes, we will be making no further comment," the ministry added.
The other person, in their 70s, died at Auckland City Hospital after being confirmed with Covid-19.
"Our thoughts and condolences are with both patients’ family and friends."
There are 116 people in hospital with the virus. One of those is in intensive care or a high dependency unit.
The average age of those in hospital with Covid-19 is 58.
"Omicron has spread to all DHBs across the North and South Islands, but all of us can 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 said.
"As always, anyone with any cold or flu symptoms that could be Covid-19 is asked to get a test and isolate at home until a negative result is returned and they are feeling well. Regardless of your test result, it is still important that anyone who is unwell stays home to reduce the spread of other viruses.
"The most common early symptom of the Omicron variant is a cough, followed by a sore throat and/or runny nose."
The ministry added that getting the booster Covid-19 vaccine dose greatly reduces the chances of getting severely ill and requiring hospital care if someone contracts the virus.
"So, if it's been three months since your last dose, please book your booster today."
More than 2.1 million booster shots have now been given nationally, including more than 15,000 on Sunday.
As well, from Monday morning, rapid antigen tests, also known as RATs, have been made available at Auckland Community Testing Centres, only to those who fit the appropriate clinical criteria.
The ministry said access to rapid antigen tests would be expanded over the coming week.
"At this time, please do not visit your GP for a RAT test or call them for guidance on RAT eligibility at Community Testing Centres. We will be providing further updates on the rollout throughout this week.
"As the outbreak grows, more people will have Covid-19 and there will be more close contacts we need to test. As planned, we will now increase the use of RATs in Phase 2 and Phase 3 of our response in order to relieve pressure on the PCR testing and reserve it for those most likely to have Covid-19."
The ministry said people should only show up to testing sites if they have symptoms, been identified as close contacts of a case, or directed by a health professional to get tested.
"We are anticipating continued high demand at our Covid-19 testing sites, so our request is to, please, be patient. Our frontline staff across the health sector are doing the best they can to help in a timely way."
There were 27,109 tests for Covid-19 processed on Sunday.
On Sunday there were 2522 new Covid-19 cases in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, there were also 12 new Covid-19 cases to report at the border on Monday.
This means, there has now been 32,927 Covid-19 cases in New Zealand since the pandemic began.
There are currently 15,928 active community cases in the country.
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