The Ministry of Health has today updated its advice for those who experience Covid-19 symptoms more than 28 days after having had Covid-19.

If a person develops new Covid-19 symptoms, and it is 29 days or more since their previous infection, it is possible that they are experiencing a Covid-19 reinfection and they should get tested.

This reflects a change from earlier advice which was that people would not need to re-test if they had tested positive for Covid-19 within the past 90 days, says a spokesperson for the Minsitry.

"Anyone taking the test should upload their results to MyCovidRecord. Should they test positive, and it has been more than 28 days since they last had Covid-19, they will need to isolate for 7 days.

"This is because there remains a small chance of catching Covid-19 again within 90 days of a first infection, especially if it is a different variant or sub-variant."

If it is 28 days or less since a recent infection, a test is not needed, says the Ministry.

"The Ministry of Health is constantly reviewing the national and international evidence on reinfections. However, evidence and infection rates vary greatly between countries and the data is very sparse.

"New Zealand's experience with Covid-19 has taught us a lot about how effective public health measures are at protecting us from other airborne viruses, such as the flu. Let's keep practising these throughout winter to keep ourselves and our communities safe.

"Book your flu vaccination if you have not already done so. The flu vaccine is free to anyone 65 and older, Māori and pacific people 55 and over, and for children aged 3-12."

Read here for more advice on what to do if you think you may have Covid-19 again soon after having had it: Getting reinfected with Covid-19

The above advice comes as the Minsitry reports 6984 new community cases today.

There are also 477 current hospitalistaions and eight deaths.

All of the deaths have occured in the past seven days.

COVID-19 Hospitalisations

• COVID-19 Cases in hospital: total number 417: Northland: 3; Waitematā: 88; Counties Manukau: 40; Auckland: 55; Waikato: 32; Bay of Plenty: 10; Lakes: 20; Tairāwhiti: 0; Hawke's Bay: 14; Taranaki: 11; Whanganui: 3; MidCentral: 12; Wairarapa: 9; Hutt Valley: 11; Capital and Coast: 30; Nelson Marlborough: 9; Canterbury: 41; South Canterbury: 3; West Coast: 0; Southern: 26.
• Weekly COVID-19 Hospitalisations - 7 day rolling average: 377. This time last week: 353 (Thursday 23 June as Friday 24 June was Matariki public holiday)
• Average age of current COVID-19 hospitalisations: 63
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 7
• Vaccination status of new admissions to hospital* (321): Unvaccinated or not eligible (48 cases); partially immunised

* These are new hospital admissions in the past 7 days prior to yesterday who had COVID at the time of admission or while in hospital, excluding hospitalisations that were admitted and discharged within 24hrs. This data is from DHBs with tertiary hospitals: Auckland, Canterbury, Southern, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Capital & Coast, Waitemata and Northland.

COVID-19 Vaccinations administered

• Vaccines administered to date: 4,028,531 first doses; 3,980,905 second doses; 33,085 third primary doses; 2,701,383 booster doses: 264,216 paediatric first doses and 133,791 paediatric second doses.
• Vaccines administered yesterday: 43 first doses; 75 second doses; 51 third primary doses; 6,560 booster doses; 38 paediatric first doses and 310 paediatric second doses.
• More detailed information, including vaccine uptake by DHB area, is available on the Ministry website.

Tests

• Number of PCR tests total (last 24 hours): 3,528
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests reported total (last 24 hours): 12,627
• PCR tests rolling average (last 7 days): 3,048
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests dispatched (last seven days as of 29 June 2022): 100,000. Today's number is not available due to end of financial year stocktakes.

COVID-19 Cases

• Total number of new community cases: 6,984
• Number of new cases that have recently travelled overseas: 211
• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 6,422
• Seven day rolling average of community cases (as at same day last week): 4,817 (Last Thursday 23 June as Friday 24 June was the Matariki public holiday)
• Number of active cases (total): 44,943 (cases identified in the past seven days and not yet classified as recovered)
• Confirmed cases (total): 1,338,446
• New cases by DHB and other more detailed case information

Please note, the Ministry of Health's daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO.

COVID-19 Deaths

• One previously reported death has been reclassified as not a COVID-19 case and has been removed from the total tally.
• Today's reported deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with COVID-19 to 1,529 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 12.
• Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today; one was from Waikato, three were from the Wellington region, one was from Canterbury; one was from South Canterbury and two were from Southern.
• One person was in their 50s; two were in their 70s; three were in their 80s; and two were aged over 90. Of these people, three were women and five were men.

"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."