Professor Ian Town says there is still much to be learned about Omicron and its variants. Video / Mark Mitchell
There are 3805 new cases of Covid-19 and 466 people in hospital with the virus.
A further 16 Covid-related deaths have been reported today.
Eight people with Covid-19 are in ICU.
One person whose death was reported today was from Northland, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Tairawhiti, two were from Taranaki, one was from Whanganui, two were from Wellington region, two were from Canterbury, one was from West Coast, three were from South Canterbury, one was from Southern.
One was in their 60s, two were in their 70s, 10 were in their 80s and three were aged over 90. Four were women and 12 were men.
"This is a very sad time for whānau and friends of those who have died and our thoughts and condolences are with them," the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
There have been a total of 1815 deaths confirmed as attributable to Covid-19 to date (either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor).
In the past seven days, there has been an average of 11 deaths confirmed each day as being attributable to the virus.
Of today's 3805 cases, 144 people had recently travelled overseas.
Those in hospital are in: Northland (19), Waitematā (59), Counties Manukau (52), Auckland (58), Waikato (70), Bay of Plenty (20), Lakes (13), Hawke's Bay (20), MidCentral (23), Whanganui (four), Taranaki (seven), Wairarapa (five), Capital & Coast (17), Hutt Valley (12), Nelson Marlborough (seven), Canterbury (50), West Coast (six), South Canterbury (seven) and Southern (17).
The seven-day rolling average of cases is 3876; last Friday it was 4581.
For hospitalisations, the rolling average is 515, while last Friday it was 609.
Today's numbers come as new wastewater results from ESR have revealed Omicron variant BA.5 has continued its takeover and is now by far the most dominant strain across New Zealand.
The research from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research shows BA.5, which was first identified in travellers in late April 2022, is now at 91 per cent and has overtaken the previous Omicron variant BA.2.
According to the ESR data, BA.2 now only represents 3 per cent of cases.
The findings also show BA.2.75 and BA.4.6 are still very rare in New Zealand at the moment.
The results are part of the most recent Covid-19 genomics report released by the ESR in conjunction with Massey University, The University of Auckland and The University of Otago.
The recent ESR genome sequencing
In the two weeks from July 30 to August 12, the ESR analysed the genome from 1394 cases.
In a post on Twitter, ESR genetics expert Professor Michael Bunce described the community genomes data as "a solid surveillance net for Aotearoa".
This month, New Zealand has seen the number of people hospitalised from Covid-19 on a slow and steady decline.
This time last month there were 797 people in hospital with Covid-19. This number crept up to 836 on July 25 before making a steady decline.
Yesterday there were 473 in hospital, including 10 people in intensive care.
Those in hospital yesterday were in: Northland (17), Waitematā (64), Counties Manukau (54), Auckland (57), Waikato (74), Bay of Plenty (15), Lakes (12), Hawke's Bay (22), MidCentral (21), Whanganui (five), Taranaki (nine), Tairāwhiti (one), Wairarapa (eight), Capital & Coast (14), Hutt Valley (11), Nelson Marlborough (seven), Canterbury (56), West Coast (four), South Canterbury (eight) and Southern (14).
The seven-day rolling average of cases yesterday was 3928; last Thursday, it was 4750. Of yesterday's 4540 cases, 164 people had recently travelled overseas.
Sixteen Covid-related deaths were reported yesterday. One person was from Northland, four were from the Auckland region, one was from Bay of Plenty, one from Lakes, two from Hawke's Bay, one was from Taranaki, four from the Wellington region and two were from Canterbury
Three were in their 60s, three were in their 70s, seven were in their 80s, and three were aged over 90.
Today's numbers will be released by the Ministry of Health at 1pm in a statement.
