Delays in reporting could be associated with people dying with, rather than of Covid-19, and the virus being discovered after the person had died.
There are 19,542 new community cases of Covid-19 today, the Ministry of Health said in a statement, and 971 people in hospital - including 21 in intensive care.
Today's community cases are in Northland (661), Auckland (5318), Waikato (1834), Bay of Plenty (1347), Lakes (584), Hawke's Bay (1049), MidCentral (802), Whanganui (231), Taranaki (663), Tairāwhiti (370), Wairarapa (208), Capital and Coast (1308), Hutt Valley (780), Nelson Marlborough (487), Canterbury (2385), South Canterbury (184), Southern (1203) and the West Coast (30). The location of seven cases is unknown.
Among the 24 deaths reported today were eight people who died at aged residential care facilities.
The ministry said significant steps had been taken to limit the spread of Covid-19 in aged-care facilities.
That included pausing or limiting visitors, strong infection prevention and control measures and limiting the rotation of staff among facilities.
"One of the best things everyone can do to protect older and more vulnerable people, including family and loved ones, is to get vaccinated and get boosted."
The total number of publicly reported deaths in NZ to date is now 141.
The rolling seven-day average of deaths publicly announced over the past seven days is seven, up from four yesterday.
"At this point in the outbreak, we are seeing increasing numbers of people dying with Omicron," the ministry said.
"Sadly, this trend is not unexpected, and our thoughts are with the families of these people.
"As has occurred with Omicron overseas, while Covid-19 cases are usually seen in higher numbers among younger people early in the outbreak, over time the more severe and fatal consequences of the virus fall disproportionately on our older and more vulnerable populations."
Hospital stays lengthening
Meanwhile, the average stay in hospital for Covid-19 patients in the Northern region is lengthening and the average age increasing, the ministry said.
That indicated that those being admitted to hospital were more likely to be vulnerable due to their older age and pre-existing non-Covid health conditions.
The 971 people reported to be in hospital today were in Northland, North Shore, Middlemore, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Tairāwhiti, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, MidCentral, Hutt Valley, Capital and Coast, Wairarapa, Nelson Marlborough, Canterbury, South Canterbury and Southern facilities.
Middlemore has the most patients with Covid-19, at 243.
The average age of those in hospital is 57.
The ministry provides vaccination status information for people in Northern region wards (Auckland and Northland hospitals), excluding emergency departments.
One hundred and six cases - or 18 per cent - of those hospitalised in the Northern region are either unvaccinated or not eligible for the vaccine.
Twenty-two cases, or 4 per cent, were partially immunised.
Two hundred and eight patients, or 35 per cent, were double vaccinated.
Two hundred cases, or 34 per cent, had received booster at least seven days before being reported as a case.
The vaccination status of 53 cases, or 9 per cent, was not known, the ministry said.
These figures showed that while just under 3 per cent of people aged 12 and over in the Northern region had not received any doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, 15.7 per cent of those in Northland and Auckland hospitals with Covid-19 and whose vaccination status was recorded are not vaccinated - and were five times over-represented in the hospitalisation figure.
Testing and vaccination
Of the 19,542 new community cases, 522 were found using PCR testing and 18,930 were identified using RATs.
The seven-day rolling average of community cases is 18,791.
There are 197,464 active community cases in total. An active community case is a case that was identified in the past 10 days and is not yet classed as having recovered.
Meanwhile, 35 new Covid-19 cases have been detected at the border.
On testing, the ministry said 5241 PCR tests were processed in the past 24 hours, and 26,380 RATs were reported in the last 24 hours.
The rolling average for the last seven days for PCR testing is 4620.
In the seven-day period to March 15, 12.8 million RATs were dispatched.
To date, 96.7 per cent of eligible New Zealanders, aged 12 and older, have had one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, while 95.3 per cent have received two and 72.8 per cent of those eligible have been boosted.
Of eligible Māori, 91.3 per cent have had one dose, 88 per cent have had two and 59.3 per cent of those eligible have been boosted.
For Pacific Peoples, 98.3 per cent have had their first dose, 96.4 per cent have had their second and 59.7 per cent have been boosted.
For eligible children (aged 5-11), 53.5 per cent have had their first dose of the vaccine and 3.2 per cent have now had their second.
For Māori children in this age group, 34.1 per cent have had their first dose and 1.7 per cent have had their second.
For Pacific children aged 5-11, 46.3 per cent have had one dose and 2.3 per cent have received two.
ICU capacity
Yesterday there were 21,616 Covid cases in the community and a record 960 patients in hospital battling the virus. Two more people - one in Southern DHB and one in Lakes DHB - also died with the virus. They were both over 70 years old.
But the actual case numbers could be much higher as health officials believe testing is only picking up half of the total positive Covid-19 cases in Auckland and Northland.
The number of ICU or HDU beds are also starting to fill up around the country, with about 60 per cent of the 300 intensive care and high dependency unit beds in NZ occupied so far.
Less than 10 per cent of total ICU and HDU beds were occupied by Covid-positive people, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday.
On a daily basis, between 10-20 per cent of ventilators were in use, so there was plenty of capacity.
Meanwhile, cases are rising in other parts of the country, including Wellington.
Bloomfield confirmed that the outbreak in Wellington appeared to still be on the way up, with 1584 cases reported yesterday.
It may well be between 3000-5000 cases a day for some weeks or even months and, in that context, it may be worthwhile to continue contact tracing, he said.
Yesterday both Gisborne and Canterbury also recorded their highest number of cases so far in the outbreak.
Meanwhile, people are still being urged to have a booster jab, with Bloomfield confirming just 16 per cent of people admitted to Auckland hospitals over a two-week period were boosted.
There was interest in the length of time people should wait if they have Covid and want to get their booster shot - and that is three months.
