The Ministry of Health is reporting 6152 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today and a further 49 deaths with the virus.
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There were also 663 people in hospital with the virus, including 14 in ICU.
On the deaths being reported today, two were from Northland, 13 were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, three were from Bay of Plenty, two were from Lakes, one was from Hawke's Bay, two were from Taranaki, one was from MidCentral, four were from Whanganui, seven were from Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, eight were from Canterbury, two were from South Canterbury and two were from Southern.
Two were in their 20s, one was in their 40s, two were in their 50s, four were in their 60s, 11 were in their 70s, 16 were in their 80s and 13 were aged over 90. Of these people, 23 were women and 26 were men.
There have now been a total of 1603 deaths confirmed as attributable to Covid-19, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor. The seven-day rolling average increase in total deaths attributable to Covid-19 is now 20.
In today's Covid-19 press conference, Public Health Agency deputy director-general Andrew Old said daily case rates were trending downwards in all regions for the second week running, dropping 18 percent in the last week to 31 July.
Case numbers in over 65s had dropped by 21 percent in the last week, Dr Old said.
Wastewater testing and testing of healthcare workers supported the conclusion that community transmission of Covid-19 was decreasing, he said.
Despite the downwards trend in case numbers, Covid-19 hospitalisation rates rose by 35 percent in the week to 31 July.
Dr Old said all regions barring the Northern region had seen its hospitalisation rate increase.
"While hospitalisations are still rising again, our expectation is that peak hospitalisation will be at the lower end of what was modelled, while we could still reach 1000 occupied beds, we are tracking closer to a peak of 850 occupied beds across the country."
The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 6142 - last Thursday it was 7776.
There were also 210 new Covid-19 cases reported at the border.
Yesterday, there were 6440 Covid-19 cases reported in the community and 26 deaths with the virus.