There are only 28 community cases of Covid-19 being reported around New Zealand today.

Of these cases, 21 are in Auckland, five in the Bay of Plenty, and two are in Taranaki. Five new cases have been identified at the border and the number of cases with the Omicron variant today remains at 22.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson says of the total Omicron cases to date, all remain in managed isolation with the exception of one case who has now recovered and been released as they are no longer infectious.

'Health and MIQ teams have been carefully planning for Omicron cases at the border and will continue to manage all arrivals cautiously.

'This includes isolation and testing requirements for all new arrivals, robust infection and prevention control and PPE measures at airports and MIQ facilities, and frequent surveillance testing of staff who have any contact with recent international returnees.”

There are 57 cases of Covid-19 in hospital throughout the country today and seven cases in either ICU or high dependency units.

Of the five cases reported in the Bay of Plenty today – four are in the Tauranga area and one in Murapara.

The Murupara case is a household contact of a previously reported case.

Local iwi health provider Te Ika Whenua Hauora is managing testing and vaccination with support from the DHB. A testing centre was opened yesterday and details are available on the Healthpoint website.

The Ministry of Health 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.

'The recent returnee who was transferred from managed isolation to Middlemore Hospital and left without being discharged, was accompanied by their child.

'The child was transferred in the ambulance with the parent as the age of the child meant they could not be left unattended in managed isolation.

'Police are currently investigating the early Monday morning incident.

'The parent tested negative twice; first on Day 0 in managed isolation. A further Rapid Antigen Test, upon arrival at the hospital on Sunday night, returned a negative result.

'We want to reiterate the importance of the pair returning to managed isolation to complete their isolation period and to have further testing on Day 3 and Day 6.

'Information regarding the pair is being released in this update to aid the investigation.”

'Nelson-Marlborough DHB is expected to become the tenth DHB to hit the 90% fully vaccinated milestone later today based on uptake among its eligible population, with just 246 doses to go as of 11.59pm yesterday.

'Next in line based on uptake by their eligible populations are South Canterbury DHB (195 doses to go); Hawkes Bay DHB (1,714 doses); and Waikato (3,557 doses), which are expected to reach this soon.

'For Māori vaccinations, Wairarapa DHB has just 4 doses remaining to reach 90% partially vaccinated for its population; while Southern DHB has 42 doses to go, and Waitemata has 225 doses to go to reach this milestone. They will soon join the five other DHBs to have reached this mark, while Auckland DHB and Capital and Coast DHB are neck and neck to become the first DHBs to reach 90% fully vaccinated for Maori, with 1,118 doses and 1,154 does to go respectively.

'For our Pacific communities, MidCentral DHB has just 6 doses to go to reach 90% of its Pacific population being fully vaccinated, with Canterbury only 10 doses away, and Waikato with just 108 doses to go. Nine other DHBs have already hit this milestone.

Auckland

Today, there are 21 new cases being reported in Auckland.

Health and welfare providers are now supporting 2,015 people to isolate at home, including 569 cases.

Bay of Plenty

There are five cases to report in Bay of Plenty today – four are in the Tauranga area and one in Murapara.

The Murupara case is a household contact of a previously reported case.

Local iwi health provider Te Ika Whenua Hauora is managing testing and vaccination with support from the DHB. A testing centre was opened yesterday and details are available on the Healthpoint website.

Taranaki

Today, two new cases are being reported in Taranaki.

One is linked to the Eltham cluster, and the other islinked to a case in New Plymouth.

This takes the total active cases in the region to 32.

Local testing sites can be found on the Taranaki DHB website.