A patient with Covid-19 has passed away at Tauranga Hospital.

The Ministry of Health confirmed the death today in its 1pm Covid-19 update.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson says the family has requested that no further details be released and, out of respect for those wishes, we will be making no further comment at this time.

'Our thoughts are with the patient's whānau and friends at this deeply sad time.”

There are also seven cases to report in Tauranga today. Four are linked to previously reported cases, while the other cases are still being investigated for potential links.

Contacts are being identified and will be contacted for testing and isolation advice.

Including the seven Tauranga cases, there are 74 cases of Covid-19 reported around the country today. Of these cases 56 are in Auckland, nine are in the Waikato, seven in the Bay of Plenty, one in the Lakes and one in Canterbury.

There are 61 cases in hospital with four of these cases being in either ICU or High Dependency Units.

Today, the MoH is also announcing 15 new cases of Covid-19 in the Taranaki township of Eltham.

'As these 15 cases were reported overnight, they will be officially added to our case figures tomorrow.

'The cases are self-isolating and initial interviews suggest they are all linked to the Eltham case reported on Sunday - with links to four of these new cases already confirmed.

'Investigations are also underway to identify, isolate, and test any close contacts and determine any locations of interest. People in Taranaki are asked to monitor the Ministry's locations of interest page, which is updated regularly.

If you have symptoms – no matter how mild – please, get tested, even if you are vaccinated - and stay at

Further testing locations and times, and vaccination centre details, across Taranaki are available on the Taranaki DHB website. Additional testing capacity will be stood up if, and when, needed.

The majority of these new cases are in pupils who usually attend a school in Eltham, which is now closed for the summer break. Local public health officials are already working with the school on public health advice for the school community, including isolation and testing for some individuals.

New Zealand is only 7,417 doses away from being nationally 90 per cent fully vaccinated, which the MoH expect to achieve in the next day or two.

A MoH spokesperson says they are continuing to ask anyone in New Zealand with symptoms – no matter how mild – to get tested, even if you're vaccinated.

'Please stay at home until you return a negative test result.

'Testing and vaccination centre locations nationwide can be found on the Healthpoint website.

'It's important testing advice is followed correctly to help ensure test results continue to be returned in a timely way. The Ministry understands that some people are being tested unnecessarily or at the wrong places.

'Unvaccinated people require a Covid-19 test for some travel including to leave Auckland. These people need to get a supervised rapid antigen test from a pharmacy, within 72 hours of travel.

'This testing is only for people over the age of 12 years and 3 months, who are not fully vaccinated and do not have any Covid-19 symptoms.

'The location and hours of pharmacies offering rapid antigen tests is available from Healthpoint. We ask people getting a rapid antigen test to be patient and kind to pharmacy staff while the system is fine-tuned.

'Remember, if you have Covid-19 symptoms then you should call Healthline for advice about getting a PCR test.

'Earlier this month 70,000 people with overseas vaccinations or incorrect data were emailed a temporary exemption letter from the requirement to produce a My Vaccine Pass.

'The majority of these people have now received their My Vaccine Pass and we are issuing a further temporary exemption letter today to some people whose applications are still being processed.

'About 5,000 people are getting a week-long exemption while their requests for My Vaccine Passes are cleared, while 20,000 people vaccinated overseas will get an extension to 17 January 2022 while their vaccinations are verified.”

New cases identified at the border

** This case has been deemed historical and is not considered infectious.