There are 201 new Covid-19 community cases today and traces of the virus have been found in the wastewater in Taupo.
Of these 181 are in Auckland, 15 in Waikato, 4 are in Northland and 1 is in Taranaki, Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said.
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The five cases announced last night will be included in tomorrow's announcement, she said.
There is also one new case in a returnee in a managed isolation facility.
Five new locations of interest related to the cases have been released, and health teams continue to work with them to identify more.
So far five close contacts of the cases have been identified.
McElnay said Covid-19 had been detected in the wastewater in Taupo from a sample taken on November 8. A further sample from November 10 was being tested and results were expected back this afternoon.
She also urged anyone being cared for in the community with Covid to reach out for medical help anytime they need it.
"People have died this week and that is tragic for their friends and family.
"It is a sad reminder that Covid is potentially fatal, and this is particularly true if you are unvaccinated," she said.
There are 85 people in hospital, including 11 in ICU.
ICU occupancy is around 70% at the moment, while ventilator capacity is at 15%.
"We can manage but it important that we limit the loads on our hospitals."
One of the six new cases in Stratford is in hospital and in a stable condition while the other five are isolating at home, McElnay said.
There were 22,794 vaccine doses administered yesterday, made up of 6,285 first doses and 16,509 second doses. To date, 90% of New Zealanders have had their first dose and 80% are fully vaccinated.
McElnay and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson are providing the Covid-19 update today.
Roberston said it was an important milestone yesterday for New Zealand to hit the mark of having 90% of people having had one dose and 80% of the double dose.
He said many DHBs across the country were close to hitting the 90% single dose mark and he urged those unvaccinated to go out and get the jab this weekend and help their region hit the milestone.
About 20% of those infected with Covid in the Delta outbreak have been aged under 12, including babies.
That's why the Government had introduced mandatory vaccination for education staff.
The same with health workers, he said. Having them vaccinated gave those ill in hospital and other health care environments an extra layer of protection.
Robertson said so far 700,000 New Zealanders had signed up for MyCovid Record, meaning they will be getting their vaccination certificates soon.
Vaccination certificates will be landing soon, he said.
The Government had paid out $5.5 billion in financial support during the Delta outbreak.
Robertson said a member of the Stratford family travelled to Auckland to pick up a family member and bring them back to Taranaki.
He said one of the six people had been vaccinated.
Robertson said one of the family declined a request to be tested earlier in the week but as a member of the family became sicker that resistance fell away.
None of the family have been using the Covid Tracer App.
Robertson said that at this time the advice was not to put Taranaki into alert level three.
The Beehive briefing this afternoon follows feisty nationwide debates about mandatory vaccines, the future of home isolation measures, and the country's "traffic light" health response.
It will not just be the numbers of any new Taranaki cases that may be consequential - but how closely any cases have followed health advice.
Six positive Covid cases in Stratford were very reluctant to get tested and have not been using the tracer app, a Taranaki DHB official told RNZ earlier.
The people who tested positive are a group of three adults and three children, who reportedly kept largely to themselves.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Andrew Little has admitted the system was struggling to cope with the high numbers of people with Covid-19 isolating at home.
At least three have died while isolating at home, most recently a man in Glen Eden. Their deaths have sparked debate over whether the MIQ system was functioning adequately.
Some health experts and Auckland Airport's chief executive have recently pleaded for major changes at MIQ.
The calls to allow low-risk, fully vaccinated returnees to skip MIQ have intensified in recent days, as the lack of space in quarantine compels many people to isolate at home.
Associate Professor Collin Tukuitonga said home isolation was unsatisfactory but sadly, surging case numbers meant more deaths were likely.
"Isolating people at home is a higher risk strategy but enforced by the sheer numbers," Tukuitonga told the Herald earlier this week.
Today's announcement will follow a day when non-Covid issues, including the Apec summit, the three-strikes law repeal and France stalling a proposed EU trade deal dominated the political agenda.
But vaccine mandates and the future of New Zealand's MIQ system remain contentious. And the Government also faces ongoing scrutiny of Covid-19 testing methods.
Aucklanders, even the fully vaccinated, who want to leave the metropolis must get tested no earlier than 72 hours before departing, and return a negative result.
But what happens when you're packed and ready to leave but still don't have your test result? Former Cabinet Minister Maurice Williamson posed that question today, saying his wife was still waiting after 74 hours.
Today's press conference also follows suggestions the Government might shift all of New Zealand into the traffic light system touted for Auckland.
The system is a successor to the old four-step alert level regime, but is expected to rely heavily on district health board areas reaching the 90% double vaccination target.
