There have been 20,802 new community cases of Covid-19 reported across New Zealand in the past week, up from 20,522 last week. There are 641 new cases in the Bay of Plenty.

The new case average is 2,967.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases was 2967, up from the week prior.

The ministry also reported 41 deaths in the past week, 13 of which have been attributed to Covid-19 (either as the underlying cause, or a contributory cause). The cause of the remaining 28 deaths was 'not available” at this stage.

Community cases have been climbing in recent weeks, with 20,522 new cases reported in the week to October 30.

BA.5 remains the dominant variant in Aotearoa, accounting for 80% of cases that have been whole genome sequenced, but BA.2.75 and BQ.1.1 have grown in recent weeks.

Between October 15-28, the Institute for Environmental Science and Research (ESR) identified 26 cases of BQ.1.1 and 15 cases of XBB, spread across the country.

Consistent with overseas data, there is 'preliminary evidence that new variants (such as BQ.1.1) are over-represented in reinfections”, ESR's latest genomics insights report stated.

- Additional reporting by Hannah Martin/Stuff.