Covid 19 omicron: Hawke's Bay has 597 new cases, and 24 people in hospital

Rapid Antigen Test kits are free for household contacts, and / or covid cases. Photo / Chris Weissenborn

Hawke's Bay has 597 new cases of Covid and 24 people in hospital.

On Saturday Hawke's Bay had 730 new Covid cases, with 23 people in hospital.

The Ministry also announced 14,494 new community cases on Sunday, 896 people in hospital with the virus, and eight Covid-19 related deaths.

Over the weekend New Zealand ticked over the grim 100th Covid-related death mark with the total number of publicly reported Covid-related deaths to date on Sunday being 113.

The Ministry encouraged getting vaccinated and boosted.

"We know the Omicron variant can cause serious illness and death either directly or by its impact on other health conditions, particularly for our older and more vulnerable New Zealanders," the Ministry stated.

"Getting vaccinated and boosted will help reduce your risk of severe COVID-19 illness and could save your life."

As of 11.59pm on Friday, the isolation period for cases and household contacts reduced from 10 to seven days.

The change applied to anyone who was isolating at the time of the change.

- If you test positive for Covid-19, you are required to isolate for 7 days.

You do not need to be retested after your initial positive result. If you still have symptoms after 7 days, stay home if you feel unwell.

- If you are a household contact and return a positive RAT result while isolating, you will need to isolate for a further 7 days and stay home till you are feeling well.

- Other household members do not have to reset their isolation and can leave isolation on day 8, the same day as the first case can leave isolation, provided they have returned negative RAT results and are not symptomatic.

- If you've tested negative, but still feel sick or symptomatic, the Ministry strongly advises you follow public health guidance and stay home and away from public places, work and other social gatherings. You should retest in 48 hours if symptoms persist or worsen.