There are 12,020 new Covid-19 cases in the community in New Zealand on Sunday, the Ministry of Health has announced.
There are 957 people in hospital with the virus, including 26 in an intensive care or high dependency unit.
This is an increase on Saturday's hospitalisations of 939, with two more people in ICU compared with 24 hours ago.
The ministry has also announced nine Covid-related deaths.
Of the nine people who have died, four were from Auckland, one was from Waikato, one was from the Capital and Coast DHB area, and three were from Bay of Plenty.
Two of the people were in their 50s, two were in their 70s, four in their 80s and one in their 90s.
Eight of them were male and one was female.
"Our thoughts are with their family and friends at this sad time. Out of respect, we will be making no further comment," the ministry said.
Sunday's deaths take the total number of publicly reported Covid-related deaths in New Zealand to 175.
The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is nine.
Sunday’s 12,020 positive cases, detected through rapid antigen tests (RATs) and PCR tests, are located in Northland (416), Auckland (2768), Waikato (1093), Bay of Plenty (804), Lakes (330), Hawke’s Bay (676), MidCentral (540), Whanganui (169), Taranaki (373), Tairāwhiti (210), Wairarapa (146), Capital and Coast (795), Hutt Valley (443), Nelson Marlborough (308), Canterbury (1897), South Canterbury (171), Southern (840) and West Coast (22).
The location of nine cases is unknown.
The ministry said 11,760 of Sunday's figures were detected through RATs and 260 through PCR tests. A total of 2550 PCR tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, while 26,924 RAT results were reported.
The number of active community cases is 120,942. They were identified in the past seven days but have not yet been classified as recovered.
The ministry said the seven-day rolling average of cases is 17,278, down from 17,641 on Saturday.
The ministry said it was continuing to see a decline in case numbers in Auckland, while cases in other parts of the country fluctuate.
There are also 26 new cases at the border on Sunday.
Travellers from Samoa to do RATs
The ministry has also announced travellers from Samoa to New Zealand on four specific flights over coming weeks must do two RATs after they arrive.
The first must be done on Day 1/0 - within 36 hours of arriving - and the second on day 5/6, between 120 and 144 hours after arriving.
They will be given testing kits on arrival.
The new requirement comes after community transmission was detected in Samoa on Thursday.
As of Saturday, 95 community cases were reported in Samoa. The country is now in an Alert Level 3 lockdown.
The ministry said travellers from Samoa are still eligible to enter New Zealand without going into quarantine, provided those on the four flights undergo the two tests and report their results either by an automated email survey or by calling 0800 432 010. The requirement does not apply to aircrew.
The four flights are:
- March 19 flight NZ993 to Auckland (already arrived)
- March 22 flight NZ993 to Auckland
- March 29 flight NZ993 to Auckland
- April 10 flight NZ993 to Auckland
On Saturday, 18,514 community cases were recorded in New Zealand.
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