There are 31 new community cases of Covid-19 and 29 new cases of the virus at the border reported in New Zealand today.
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In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there were 14 new community cases in Auckland, one in Waikato, 12 new cases in Bay of Plenty and four cases in Lakes.
There were 29 Covid-19 cases identified at the border and the ministry said that although genome sequencing of these cases has not yet occurred it is expected some will be the Omicron variant.
The ministry said it has identified a third-border related case with the Omicron variant. The person is a household contact of the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive for Omicron last week.
The person has now been transferred to an MIQ facility and is fully vaccinated and was in isolation during their symptomatic period, the ministry said.
There are currently 53 patients with Covid-19 in hospital including 22 in Middlemore, 16 in Auckland, nine in North Shore, five in Tauranga and one in Rotorua. There are six patients with Covid-19 in ICU or HDU.
The ministry said that nearly 4500 booster shots were administered yesterday, which was a jump of 1500 on the day before.
From tomorrow (5 January), the interval between second doses and boosters reduces from six months to four months.
Yesterday, there were 27 new community cases of Covid-19 and 24 new cases reported at the border.
The ministry also yesterday revealed that it would not be taking legal action against a UK musician who became the country's first reported community Omicron case last week.