The ministry said there was a total of 1,001,898 confirmed cases of Covid-19. This time last year, our confirmed case total was 2288.
"New Zealanders' collective response to Covid-19 helped us to keep our case numbers low, especially in that first year when the virus was rampant internationally."
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today's grim milestone showed the global pandemic was "still going strong" and warned of potential for another increase in numbers.
"Covid-19 is still with us, and we still need to be following the rules.
"There is still Covid out there transmitting, and we have to be aware of the fact that heading into winter we could see another increase in case numbers.
"The advice that we're getting is [there could] potentially [be] an increase in the severity of cases that we see as we head into the winter period.
"And then of course, we've still got the potential for new variants to emerge as well."
Director-general of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield thanked New Zealanders who had "played their part to keep our case numbers and rates low when compared internationally, and for continuing to do their bit to follow public health advice and minimise the spread of Covid-19".
Meanwhile there are 385 people in hospital with the virus, including 13 in intensive care.
The hospitals Covid patients are being treated at are: Northland (9), Waitematā (43), Counties Manukau (35), Auckland (73), Waikato (41), Bay of Plenty (20), Lakes (five), Tairāwhiti (two), Hawke's Bay (16), Taranaki (nine), Whanganui (one), MidCentral (21), Wairarapa (1), Hutt Valley (six), Capital and Coast (13), Nelson Marlborough (eight), Canterbury (49), South Canterbury (three), West Coast (four) and the Southern region (26).
The average age of the people hospitalised in the Northern region (Northland and Auckland) is 59.
Today's 9173 cases is the highest daily number of community cases recorded since April 27 (9830 cases).
Today's seven-day rolling average of community case numbers is 7927. Last Tuesday it was 7943.
The locations of today's community cases are: Northland (265), Auckland (2945), Waikato (625), Bay of Plenty (254), Lakes (175), Hawke's Bay (274), MidCentral (348), Whanganui (97), Taranaki (255), Tairāwhiti (75), Wairarapa (105), Capital and Coast (600), Hutt Valley (264), Nelson Marlborough (339), Canterbury (1397), South Canterbury (164), Southern (889) and the West Coast (98).
The location of four cases is unknown.
There are 55,475 active community cases in total.
Meanwhile, 78 Covid-19 cases have been detected at the border.
To date, 95.2 per cent of eligible Kiwis have had two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and 70.8 per cent have been boosted.
Yesterday, officials confirmed two news cases of the BA.5 variant along with 6407 community infections.
A further two Covid-related deaths were reported and 368 people were in hospital, including 18 in ICU.
The seven-day rolling average for Covid-19 case numbers yesterday was 7479, while last Monday it was 7553.
University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker said new Covid-19 sub-variants were among several factors that could push Covid-19 case numbers over winter.
Baker told RNZ he expected case numbers to rise over the coming months, which would result in increased hospitalisations and deaths.
There are now three confirmed cases of BA.5, all of whom travelled here from South Africa.
Baker said the variant had "taken over the world".
"[In New Zealand] we saw the original BA.1 has now been replaced by BA.2, and we would expect to see more dominant - or we would say 'fitter' variants gradually take over from the ones before - this is natural selection taking place before our very eyes," Baker told RNZ.
"If a variant becomes more common ... we can say yes, it's got a competitive advantage. The other effect is whether it's more severe - but that takes a very long time to find out and there are so many factors that affect that."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern again tested negative for Covid this morning. She is isolating at home instead of using the critical worker scheme after her partner Clarke Gayford tested positive on Sunday.
Political editor Claire Trevett yesterday said Ardern was not using the exemption scheme for critical workers because of childcare responsibilities and believed she did not need the critical worker exemption.
While Ardern has had to cancel some events – including a visit to Hawke's Bay – she could do most events and meetings remotely, including chairing Cabinet, delivering a pre-Budget speech to Business NZ tomorrow and taking part in Question Time and speeches in Parliament.
The critical worker exemption scheme allowed critical workers who were household contacts to go to work provided they tested negative each day. Businesses and workplaces needed to register as "critical services" for their workers to qualify for the scheme.
