There has been a "significant increase" in the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 this weekend, says the Ministry of Health, with 7461 new community cases and eight further deaths also reported today.
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The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is exactly 9000, compared with 6895 last Sunday.
In today's statement, the Ministry said there were 662 people in hospital, compared to 424 this time last week, with 13 people currently in intensive care.
There had been a "significant increase" in the number of Covid-19-positive hospitalisations this weekend, the statement added, with just 587 in hospital on Friday.
"We know there will also be increased demand for primary and community care services as Covid-19 cases increase.
"The increase in hospitalisations also emphasises the importance of everybody doing the basics well to help New Zealand get through winter in good shape."
The total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 in New Zealand is now 1671.
One of the eight new deaths reported today was a person in their fifties, five were in their 80s, and two were aged over 90. Three were female and five were male. Four were from the Auckland Region, one was from Bay of Plenty, one was from Hawke's Bay, one was from Canterbury / West Coast, and one was from Southern.
The Ministry said 286 of today's new community cases had recently travelled overseas.
There were 22 more deaths reported yesterday, including a child under the age if 10, with 9307 community cases.
There has now been a total of 1,421,077 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.