In the South Island, 462 Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) staff members are away because of Covid-19.
It comes as hospitalisations for the virus in the region grew to a new high of 60.
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
In his weekly newsletter, Canterbury DHB chief executive Peter Bramley said he expected to see community cases in Canterbury peak mid-week, followed by hospitalisations mid next week.
Staff away because of Covid-19 either had the virus or were household contacts, and there were more staff away for other reasons which increased the impact on those left behind.
Bramley thanked the hundreds of workers who had "put themselves out there," stepping out of their comfort zones to be redeployed into different jobs to help keep things running.
Some had stepped out from behind a desk to help care for patients.
Reaching the peak would not mean the end of staffing challenges, Bramley said.
A lot of services and planned care had been put on hold to help deal with Covid-19 and it would take time for them to be fully reinstated as staffing allowed, he said.
The DHB "slowly but surely" increase the flow of planned care where it could do so safely, he said.