20,989 new Covid-19 community cases, 856 people in hospital

There are 20,989 new Covid-19 cases in the community in New Zealand on Friday, the Ministry of Health has announced.

There are 856 people in hospital with the virus, including 20 in an intensive care or high dependency unit.

Friday's figure is an increase on Thursday's 773 hospitalisations. It is also an increase on Thursday's ICU numbers of 16.

Seven Covid-related deaths have also been recorded.

Five of the deaths had occurred in Auckland, one in Waikato and one in Southern, Dr Andrew Old, the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre's (NRHCC) chief clinical officer, said.

"This is the highest number of daily deaths we've had in this outbreak. It highlights that although Omicron is a mild illness for many people, for some it is not," he said.

"Every death is a tragedy and our thoughts and condolences are with the families and loved ones of the people who have passed away."

The ministry said one person was in their fifties, four were in their 70s, one was in their 80s and one in their 90s. Four of them were male and three were female.

The total number of publicly reported Covid-related deaths is now 98.

Friday’s 20,989 positive cases, detected through rapid antigen tests (RAT) and PCR tests, are located in Northland (765), Auckland (7240), Waikato (1941), Bay of Plenty (1352), Lakes (510), Hawke’s Bay (855), MidCentral (682), Whanganui (188), Taranaki (519), Tairāwhiti (330), Wairarapa (174), Capital and Coast (1746), Hutt Valley (1044), Nelson Marlborough (443), Canterbury (2160), South Canterbury (136), Southern (878) and West Coast (22).

The location of four cases is unknown.

The ministry said 20,320 of Friday's cases were detected through RAT and 669 through PCR tests. A total of 4614 PCR tests were carried out in the last 24 hours.

The number of active community cases is 209,754. They were identified in the past 10 days but have not yet been classified as recovered.

Old said he remains "cautiously optimistic" that the virus is close to reaching its peak in Auckland.

He explained the three-day rolling average of cases is about 8500 per day, which is down from a peak of about 14,000.

Old said although health officials know not every case is being detected, there has been good testing coverage in Auckland. 15% of those enrolled in a general practice have been tested in the past fortnight.

Daily test registrations also remain high at about 30,000 per day.

In Auckland, the average age of those in hospital with the virus remains "relatively young" at about 40 years old.

Due to rising hospitalisations in the last week, however, health officials were seeing more older and vulnerable people.

Old said about half a per cent of Auckland's cases were in hospital, with 1.5% treated in hospital over the outbreak so far.

He said health staff outside of clinical teams had stepped up to help address staffing shortages.

At the Waitematā District Health Board, the legal team were helping out security guards and the chief financial officer had been seen delivering meals to patients. Anaesthetists were taking blood and the executive leadership team were working in ED making beds and answering calls.

Similar scenes were occurring at Counties Manukau and Auckland DHBs.

Old said since March 1 more than two million RATs had been distributed in Auckland.

There are also 23 new border cases on Friday.

On Thursday, 21,015 community cases were recorded in New Zealand.