There are 5939 new community cases of Covid-19 to report today, the Ministry of Health says.
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As well, there were 634 people in hospital with the virus, including 15 in intensive care or a HDU, the ministry said in its daily update. That compared with 654 people in hospital, including 16 in ICU at the ministry's briefing yesterday.
Today's cases in hospital were in Northland: 34; Waitematā: 65; Counties Manukau: 49; Auckland: 80; Waikato: 54; Bay of Plenty: 26; Lakes: 15; Hawke's Bay: 37; MidCentral: 20; Whanganui: 15; Taranaki: 22; Tairāwhiti: 2; Wairarapa: 7; Capital, Coast: 18; Hutt: 17; Nelson Marlborough: 15; Canterbury: 97; West Coast: 5; South Canterbury: 25; Southern: 31.
The seven-day rolling average of cases today is 5120. Last Monday it was 6683.
In the past seven days there have been an average of 16 deaths confirmed each day as being attributable to the virus.
There have now been a total of 1688 deaths confirmed as attributable to Covid-19 in New Zealand, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor, the ministry said.
There were also 203 Covid-19 cases at the border.
Yesterday, there were 4006 new cases and a further 13 deaths of people with the virus.
While the government continues to encourage the use of masks at indoor gatherings to help reduce the spread of Covid-19, RNZ has reported today that the country's mayors have concluded that mask use was a personal choice.
Some local leaders have been appearing without masks in social media posts and at council meetings.
Businesses were also taking a mixed approach to the use of masks, with some insisting customers wear them while others were much more relaxed about them.