There are 11,382 new community cases of Covid-19 today and a further 23 deaths with the virus, the Ministry of Health says.
Covid-19 rapid antigen test. File photo. Photo: AFP
Of the deaths being reported today, four were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, one was from Bay of Plenty, one was from Lakes, one was from Taranaki, one was from Hawke's Bay, two were from MidCentral, one was from the Wellington region, two were from Nelson / Marlborough, seven were from Canterbury, one was from South Canterbury and one was from Southern.
In a statement, the ministry said a child less than 10 years old had died, while five other people who died were in their 70s, nine were in their 80s and eight were aged over 90. Of these people, 11 were women and 12 were men.
All the deaths being reported today occurred in the past seven days, the ministry said.
That takes the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1760 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 20.
There were also 765 people in hospital, including 11 in intensive care or a high dependency unit.
In a Covid-19 media conference, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said case rates across all four regions around New Zealand have trended upwards in recent weeks - a 32 percent increase in the week ending 10 July compared to the week prior.
This has been driving an increase in hospitalisations, he says, which "has been quite rapid".
"Among people 65 years and older they have increased by 33 percent in the weekend to 10 July."
He says test results from border workers and wastewater suggests a significant increase in case rates across all regions in recent weeks, and the ministry believes only about half of cases are being found from testing.
"Some of those will be people that are asymptomatic, and some may be testing but not uploading their results and there may be some people that are simply not testing."
The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 9826.
There were also 334 new Covid cases reported at the border.
The ministry was reminding people to mask up: "The more layers of protection we put in place - such as mask wearing, vaccinations, and staying home when sick - the more we reduce the risk of spreading respiratory viruses."
"Even if you're fully vaccinated, or have had Covid-19, continuing to wear a face mask is important in keeping you, your whānau and your community safe."