Eighteen people with Covid-19 have died and there are 5499 new community cases of the virus, according to latest Ministry of Health figures.
There were also 334 people in hospital with the virus, including four in intensive care or a high dependency unit compared with 362 hospital cases, including four in intensive care, at the last update.
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Of the deaths being reported today, 15 of them occurred in the past three days, and three occurred since 13 June.
Three of them were from the Auckland region, one from Waikato, one from MidCentral, five were from the Wellington region, two were from Nelson-Marlborough, three were from Canterbury, one was from South Canterbury and two were from Southern.
One person was in their 50s, one was in their 60s, three were in their 70s, eight were in their 80s and five were aged over 90.
That takes the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1450 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 13.
Yesterday, a further 17 people with the virus had died, including a child under 10,. There were also 5630 new community cases yesterday.
The new community cases being reported today were in Northland (144), Auckland (1,637), Waikato (335), Bay of Plenty (166), Lakes (81), Hawke's Bay (150), MidCentral (129), Whanganui (53), Taranaki (144), Tairāwhiti (54), Wairarapa (56), Capital and Coast (559), Hutt Valley (252), Nelson Marlborough (258), Canterbury (896), South Canterbury (85), Southern (446), West Coast (50) and the location of four was unknown.
The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 4873 - last Wednesday it was 5777.
There were also 78 new cases reported at the border.
The ministry reminded people to have plans in place over the long weekend if they contracted Covid-19 or were identified as a household contact of a case.
"You would need to self-isolate and likely remain wherever you test positive or become a household contact, so there may be extra costs involved in paying for additional accommodation and changing your travel plans.
"If you have used your own vehicle to travel, you can travel back to your home to isolate, taking public health measures to ensure you don't infect anyone on your way home - such as maintaining social distance (distancing yourself from others), wearing your mask correctly, making sure you keep your hands clean and dry and using self-service petrol stations if you need to refuel your vehicle.
"However, if you have used public transport or travelled between islands, you won't be able to travel to isolate at your home. So it is important you have a plan and the ability to isolate where you are holidaying if you need to do so."
Meanwhile, Covid-19 is continuing to put pressure on the health sector nationwide as staff cope with a higher than predicted number of Covid-19 cases as well as winter illnesses, such as influenza.
Health Minister Andrew Little said the government has done everything it can to support the health system, and rejects the accusation it failed to take earlier opportunities to bolster the nursing workforce.
While the system was under pressure he stopped short of calling it a crisis.
However, National leader Christopher Luxon and health spokesperson Shane Reti said the government was dreaming if it did not consider the current pressures a crisis.
Luxon told Morning Report National's plan to add nurses and midwives to the fast-track residency scheme would help relieve the current strain on the health system although he agreed there was a worldwide shortage of health workers.