There are 8150 new Covid-19 community cases in New Zealand, with 11 deaths including a child under the age of 10, the Ministry of Health has announced on Wednesday.
The numbers were reported over the last 24 hours.
There are 368 people in hospital with the virus, up 41 from Tuesday.
Eleven people are in an intensive care or high dependency unit, one more than 24 hours ago.
The ministry also announced 11 deaths of people with Covid-19. Nine had died over the past 10 days. The remaining two had died on April 11 and May 6 respectively.
Of the 11 people who have died, one was aged under 10, one was in their 30s, one was in their 60s, one was in their 70s, three were in their 80s and four were aged over 90.
Omicron subvariant detected in community case
The ministry also announced the Omicron subvariant of BA.2.12.1 has been detected in New Zealand for the first time. It has been picked up in a community case in Hawke's Bay and does not have a clear link to the border.
The person had tested positive on May 10.
This subvariant of Omicron is prevalent in the US and has been detected at the border for many weeks - 29 times since April to be exact.
The ministry said the subvariant's movement into the community is therefore not unexpected.
"Emerging data suggests BA.2.12.1 is marginally more transmissible than the subvariants currently circulating in Aotearoa New Zealand," the ministry said.
BA.4 and BA.5 picked up in wastewater
Meanwhile, the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have been detected in wastewater samples at Rosedale on Auckland's North Shore and in Gisborne.
The ministry said the presence of these subvariants in the community is also not unexpected.
Both of these variants are being monitored by the World Health Organization. To date - compared to BA.2 - there is clinical data suggesting they are more transmissible, but no data suggesting they cause more severe illness.
Covid-19 deaths
Of the 11 Covid-19 deaths announced on Wednesday, three people were from Canterbury, two each were from Auckland and Taranaki, and one each were from Waikato, Hawke's Bay, the MidCentral DHB area and the Southern DHB area.
Five were male and six were female.
"This is a very sad time for whānau and friends and our thoughts and condolences are with them. Out of respect, we will be making no further comment on these deaths," the ministry said.
The latest deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths of people with Covid-19 to 1086.
The seven-day rolling average of deaths is now 10.
Wednesday's case details
Meanwhile, the seven-day rolling average of cases is 7308, down from 8024 a week ago, and down on 7507 24 hours ago.
Wednesday's positive cases, detected through rapid antigen tests (RATs) and PCR tests, are located in Northland (237), Auckland (2617), Waikato (602), Bay of Plenty (270), Lakes (137), Hawke's Bay (217), MidCentral (247), Whanganui (78), Taranaki (249), Tairāwhiti (46), Wairarapa (85), Capital and Coast (632), Hutt Valley (221), Nelson Marlborough (356), Canterbury (1284), South Canterbury (165), Southern (617) and West Coast (87).
The location of three cases is unknown.
The ministry said 7888 of Wednesday's cases were detected through RATs and 262 through PCR tests.
A total of 3501 PCR tests were carried out in the last 24 hours and 16,430 RAT results were reported.
The number of active community cases is 51,133. They were identified in the past seven days but have not yet been classified as recovered.
There are also 78 new imported cases of Covid-19, the ministry announced on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, 8435 community cases were announced.
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