Covid-19 community cases continue to rise with the Ministry of Health reporting 10,290 new cases today.

On Tuesday, the Ministry reported 9629 community cases.

In today's daily update, the Ministry reports there are also 522 current hospitalisations.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 7591.

"We are sadly reporting the deaths of 12 people with Covid-19*. These deaths occurred in the period since July 1."

Mask reminder for healthcare and aged residential care settings

During the past two weeks, there has been a significant increase in Covid-19 cases on top of a rise in seasonal colds, flu and other respiratory illnesses, says the Ministry.

"Wearing a mask remains one of our best measures to reduce transmission against infectious respiratory illnesses, including Covid-19.

"Masking up is particularly important when you are going to be around our more vulnerable members of the community, such as in healthcare settings and in aged residential care.

"The more layers of protection we put in place around the vulnerable, such as mask wearing, having our vaccinations, and staying away from them when sick, the less risk there is of them getting seriously ill.

"If you are visiting loved ones in hospital or aged residential care, our request is to, please, be patient and kind to each other and staff. They are working as hard as they can to protect some of the more vulnerable members of the community.

"Wearing a mask also helps protect our healthcare and aged residential care staff, reducing their chances of becoming unwell and supporting them to continue to provide care to those that need it.

"Even if you're fully vaccinated, or have had viruses in the past, continuing to wear a face mask is important in keeping you, your whanau and your community safe.

"We are continuing to urge people to mask up on public transport, in indoor settings like retail stores and supermarkets, in poorly ventilated spaces, or when it is hard to physically distance from other people."

Covid-19 hospitalisations

• Covid-19 Cases in hospital: total number 522: Northland: 15; Waitematā: 108; Counties Manukau: 29; Auckland: 55; Waikato: 53; Bay of Plenty: 31; Lakes: 12; Hawke's Bay: 19; MidCentral: 13; Whanganui: 6; Taranaki: 12; Tairawhiti: 2; Wairarapa: 5; Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley: 48; Nelson Marlborough: 11; Canterbury and West Coast: 60; South Canterbury: 12; Southern: 31.
• Weekly Covid-19 Hospitalisations - 7 day rolling average: 454 (This time last week 347)
• Average age of current Covid-19 hospitalisations: 65
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 10
• Vaccination status of new admissions to hospital*: Unvaccinated or not eligible (31 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 Districts with tertiary hospitals: Auckland, Canterbury, Southern, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Capital & Coast, Waitemata and Northland.

Covid-19 vaccinations administered

• Vaccines administered to date: 4,028,652 first doses; 3,981,135 second doses; 33,150 third primary doses; 2,732,315 booster doses: 264,459 paediatric first doses and 135,483 paediatric second doses
• Vaccines administered yesterday: 35 first doses; 53 second doses; 37 third primary doses; 9,251 booster doses; 19 paediatric first doses and 276 paediatric second doses
• More detailed information, including vaccine uptake by District, is available on the Ministry website.

Tests

• Number of PCR tests total (last 24 hours): 3,790
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests reported total (last 24 hours): 15,984
• PCR tests rolling average (last 7 days): 3,201
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests dispatched (last seven days as of 6 July 2022): 1.7 million

Covid-19 cases

• Total number of new community cases: 10,290
• Number of new cases that have recently travelled overseas: 233
• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 7,591
• Seven day rolling average of community cases (as at same day last week): 5,808
• Number of active cases (total): 53,110 (cases identified in the past seven days and not yet classified as recovered)
• Confirmed cases (total): 1,366,853 (Due to a delay in reporting we are providing this figure for 5 July.)
• New cases by District and other more detailed case information.

Please note, the Ministry of Health's daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a District 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

Today's reported deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1604 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 15.

Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today: two were from Auckland region, one was from Waikato, three from Bay of Plenty, one was from Hawke's Bay, one was from Taranaki, two were from Wellington region, two were from Southern.

One was in their 60s, three were in their seventies, five were in their 80s, and three were aged over 90. Of these people, six were women and six 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."

*The total number of Covid-19 deaths was understated by a count of one, on both 4 and 5 July. This was due to a coding error, which has now been fixed.