The Ministry of Health is reporting 14 new Covid community cases in the Bay of Plenty today.

Nationally, there are 62 new community cases - 37 in Auckland, five in the Waikato, 14 in the Bay of Plenty, five in the Lakes District and one in Canterbury.

The Ministry of Health is also reporting the death of a patient at North Shore Hospital.

"Sadly, today we are reporting the death of a patient with Covid-19 at North Shore Hospital.

"The patient, who was in their 50s, was admitted to hospital on December 11.

"Our thoughts are with their whānau and friends at this sad time."

See the bottom of this email for a full breakdown of today's numbers.

Regional Breakdowns

Auckland

Today, there are 37 new cases being reported in Auckland.

Health and welfare providers are now supporting 2152 people to isolate at home, including 579 cases.

Waikato

There are five new cases being reported in Waikato today, all in Te Kūiti.

All new cases are known contacts of previous cases.

There are seven pop-up and dedicated testing sites operating throughout Waikato today with sites in Hamilton, Te Kūiti, Huntly, Ngāruawāhia, Thames, and Ōtorohanga.

For a full list of testing sites, see the Waikato DHB website.

Bay of Plenty

There are 14 new cases being reported in the Western Bay of Plenty today.

Following initial investigations, seven cases have been linked to existing cases. Interviews with the remaining cases to determine any possible connections are ongoing.

Contacts are being identified and will be called and given testing and isolation advice.

Lakes

There are five news cases being reported in the Lakes district today. All are in or near Rotorua.

Following initial investigations, three cases have been linked to existing cases.

Canterbury

There is one new case to report in Christchurch today.

Public health officials are investigating recent travel to Auckland as the source of their infection.

The case travelled from Auckland to Christchurch on Monday, December 20, on Air NZ Flight NZ543.

All passengers on the flight are being treated as close contacts and are required to get tested. Contact tracing is underway to contact all passengers.

Holiday reminder

"No one wants to get Covid-19 (or any other illness) for Christmas, so we're asking everyone to play their part to reduce the spread of the virus," says a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.

"Anyone with any symptoms that could be Covid-19, is asked to get a test, and stay at home until they receive a negative result and are feeling better."

Testing locations nationwide can be found on the Healthpoint website.

"People who are out and about today are asked to wear a mask and maintain physical distance in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor spaces and scan in using the Covid-19 Tracer app.

"The vaccine remains our key defence against all variants of Covid-19, including Omicron. We continue to ask everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated, including people who are now eligible for a booster dose.

COVID-19 vaccine update

• Vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people): 3,971,055 first doses (95%); 3,830,209 second doses (91%); 27,613 third primary doses; 265,497 booster doses
• Vaccines administered yesterday: 1,413 first doses; 7,135 second doses; 662 third primary doses and 12,128 booster doses.
• Māori (percentage of eligible people): 498,945 first doses (87%); 453,526 second doses (79%)
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people): 269,120 first doses (94%); 255,447 second doses (89%)

Vaccination rates by DHB with active cases (percentage of eligible people)

• Northland DHB: First doses (88%); second doses (84%)
• Auckland Metro DHBs: First doses (96%); second doses (93%)
• Waikato DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (89%)
• Bay of Plenty DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (88%)
• Lakes DHB: First doses (92%); second doses (87%)
• Taranaki DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (88%)
• Hawke's Bay DHB: First doses (94%); second doses (89%)
• Hutt Valley DHB: First doses (95%); second doses (92%)
• Nelson-Marlborough DHB: First doses (95%); second doses (91%)
• Canterbury DHB: First doses (98%); second doses (95%)

Hospitalisations

• Cases in hospital: 45; North Shore: 6; Auckland: 17; Middlemore: 18; Waikato: 2; Tauranga: 2
• Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only): Unvaccinated or not eligible (24 cases / 60%); partially immunised
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 50
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 8 (1 in North Shore; 2 in Auckland; 4 in Middlemore; 1 in Tauranga)

Cases

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 51.4
• Number of new community cases: 62
• Number of new cases identified at the border: 10
• Location of new community cases: Auckland (37), Waikato (5), Bay of Plenty (14), Lakes (5), Canterbury (1).
• Number of community cases (current community outbreak total): 10,493
• Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 7,818
• Number of active cases (total cases identified in the past 21 days and not yet classed as recovered): 1,491
• Confirmed cases (total): 13,349

Contacts

• Number of active contacts being managed (total): 6,448
• Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 85%
• Percentage who have returned at least one result: 79%

Tests

• Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 19,027
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 18,265
• Auckland tests total (last 24 hours): 11,066

Wastewater

• No unexpected detections in most recent results.

NZ COVID Tracer

• Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday: 2,577,933
• Manual diary entries in 24 hours to midday: 28,983

My Vaccine Pass

• My vaccine passes issued total: 4,515,094
• My vaccine passes issued (last 24 hours): 26,633