The Ministry of Health is today reporting 5535 new community cases of Covid-19, 720 current hospitalisations, and 14 deaths. There are 21 people in ICU.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 8,563.

There are 212 new community cases in the Bay of Plenty and 105 in the Lakes region.

"Today we are sadly reporting the deaths of 14 people with Covid-19," says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

All these deaths occurred in the past four days.

Covid-19 hospitalisations

• Covid-19 Cases in hospital: total number 720: Northland: 18; Waitematā: 96; Counties Manukau: 63; Auckland: 82; Waikato: 60; Bay of Plenty: 40; Lakes: 11; Hawke's Bay: 32; MidCentral: 40; Whanganui: 13; Taranaki: 16; Tairawhiti: 2; Wairarapa: 6; Capital & Coast/Hutt: 61; Nelson Marlborough: 11; Canterbury/West Coast: 132; South Canterbury: 13; Southern: 24.
• Weekly Covid-19 Hospitalisations - 7 day rolling average: 762 (This time last week 737)
• Average age of current Covid-19 hospitalisations: 66
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 21
• Vaccination status of new admissions to hospital*: Unvaccinated or not eligible (57 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, Waitemat01 and Northland.

Covid-19 vaccinations administered

• Vaccines administered to date: 4,029,088 first doses; 3,981,846 second doses; 33,918 third primary doses; 2,701,156 first booster doses: 248,989 second booster doses: 265,699 paediatric first doses and 143,593 paediatric second doses
• Vaccines administered yesterday: 24 first doses; 33 second doses; 4 third primary doses; 817 first booster doses; 5,476 second booster doses; 77 paediatric first doses and 497 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): 2,835
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests reported total (last 24 hours): 10,072
• PCR tests rolling average (last 7 days): 3,436
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests dispatched (last seven days as of 21 July 2022): 4.5 million

Covid-19 cases

• Total number of new community cases: 5,535
• Number of new cases that have recently travelled overseas: 318
• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 8,563
• Seven day rolling average of community cases (as at same day last week): 9,847
• Number of active cases (total): 59,905 (cases identified in the past seven days and not yet classified as recovered)
• Confirmed cases (total): 1,551,939
• Location of new community cases by district over past 24 hours

You can also view a detailed breakdown of daily case numbers for each district since the beginning of the pandemic by clicking the ‘download' button on the right hand side of this page: New Zealand COVID-19 data.

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 1,990 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 24.
• Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today: three were from Auckland region, three were from Waikato, four were from Hawke's Bay, one was from Taranaki, one was from MidCentral, one was from Wellington region, one was from Southern.
• Six were in their 80s and eight were aged over 90. Of these people, 11 were women and three 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,” says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.