Canterbury has 2535 new community cases of Covid-19 today and one person with the virus has died in the region.
Nationally there are 15,918 new community cases today, including 293 in South Canterbury.
There are 817 people in hospital with the virus, including 24 in intensive care.
There are 57 people in Canterbury DHB hospitals and three in South Canterbury hospitals, the Ministry of Health said.
The ministry has also reported a further 14 Covid-related deaths.
Of the people who died, one was from Canterbury and one from South Canterbury, four were from the Auckland region, four from Waikato, one from the Lakes DHB, one from the Wellington region, one from Nelson Marlborough, and one from Southern. Five were in their 70s, six in their 80s and three were in their 90s. One was female and thirteen were male.
The deaths reported today included people who had died over the past six days but their deaths were only recently notified to the ministry. The number of publicly reported deaths of people with Covid-19 now stands at 317, while the seven-day rolling average is 15.
The average age of people in hospital with Covid-19 is 58. The other cases in hospital are spread across Northland: 30; North Shore: 129; Middlemore: 170; Auckland: 139; Waikato: 82; Bay of Plenty: 25; Lakes: 13; Tairāwhiti: 2, Hawke’s Bay: 30; Taranaki: 17; Whanganui: 9; MidCentral: 21; Hutt Valley: 17; Capital and Coast: 30; Wairarapa: 1; Nelson Marlborough: 15; West Coast: 1; and Southern: 26.
There are now 104,769 active community cases in the country.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said this afternoon there will continue to be spikes in case numbers over the coming weeks, which is not unexpected.
"The overall trend is heading in a downward direction," he said.
Today's other new community cases are in Northland (634), Auckland (2,691), Waikato (1,508), Bay of Plenty (987), Lakes (438), Hawke’s Bay (892), MidCentral (851), Whanganui (399), Taranaki (649), Tairāwhiti (183), Wairarapa (152), Capital and Coast (1,054), Hutt Valley (599), Nelson Marlborough (605), Southern (1,386), West Coast (55); and Unknown (7).
Hipkins coy over Auckland move
At today's update Hipkins wouldn't be drawn on Auckland's chances of moving to orange under the traffic light system, having already passed its Omicron peak.
He said he was yet to have "a firm leaning" for Monday's review of traffic light settings.
"We'll be following closely the public health advice we get over the weekend."
The main difference between red and orange was the size of indoor gatherings. There is no limit under orange.
"The main thing we're all looking for is where we're at in terms of the overall peak."
In some parts of the country case numbers were continued to trend up, he said.
Hipkins said there would continue to be spikes in coming weeks, which was not unexpected.
"The overall trend is heading in a downward direction."
Vaccines for young people
Hipkins said he expected vaccine uptake to be "slow" for the 5-11 age group.
"A lot of work" was going on with local health providers and schools to increase that uptake, he said.
"We knew this was going to be a long, slow grind, if you like, to get those vaccination rates up for children."
He urged parents to get their kids vaccinated, though there wasn't the same Government pressure as there was for the adult population.
"We're seeing a decline in the uptake of vaccination across the board at the moment."
Part of the reason was people who had caught Omicron and couldn't be vaccinated for three months after they were infected.
Advertising campaigns were continuing to target the 5-11s, as were grass roots programmes to inform parents.
"That is slower, but that is the way we're going to reach those groups.," Hipkins said.
He said providing vaccinations on site in schools made more sense in isolated communities where schools were less likely to be located right next to a vaccination site. DHBs were making those decisions, he said.
He said he was awaiting advice on a booster for those aged 12 to 17.
-ODT Online/NZ Herald
