There are 21,616 Covid cases in the community today and a record 960 patients in hospital battling the virus.
Two more people have died, the Ministry of Health said today.
One death was in Southern and one in Wellington's Capital & Coast DHBs.
"Both people, one man and one woman, were aged over 70," the ministry said.
This takes the country's death toll since the pandemic began to 117.
Of the 960 people in hospital, 23 are in Northland, 187 in North Shore, 245 in Middlemore, 200 in Auckland, 77 in Waikato, 35 in Bay of Plenty, 35 in Lakes, 9 in Tairāwhiti, 23 in Hawke's Bay, 14 in Taranaki, 14 in MidCentral, 2 in Whanganui, 22 in Hutt Valley, 33 in Capital & Coast, 7 in Wairarapa, 12 in Nelson-Marlborough, 33 in Canterbury, 3 in South Canterbury and 14 in Southern.
The total number of confirmed Covid cases now sits at 398,329.
The average age of those currently in hospital with Covid-19 is 58.
Of the 21,616 new community cases, 708 were in Northland, 6085 in Auckland, 2062 in Waikato, 1424 in Bay of Plenty, 633 in Lakes, 1111 in Hawke's Bay, 888 in MidCentral, 276 in Whanganui, 510 in Taranaki, 446 in Tairāwhiti, 229 in Wairarapa, 1584 in Capital & Coast, 987 in Hutt Valley, 534 in Nelson-Marlborough, 2642 in Canterbury, 217 in South Canterbury, 1238 in Southern and 43 in the West Coast.
The location of nine cases was unknown.
Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there were 22 people in intensive care or high dependency units today.
There were almost 300 intensive care and high dependency unit beds around the country and about 60 per cent were currently occupied.
Less than 10 per cent of total ICU and HDU beds were occupied by Covid-positive people and he wasn't sure if any of them were ventilated at the moment.
On a daily basis, between 10-20 per cent of ventilators were in use so there was plenty of capacity.
There were 425 ventilators in service and 68 are in use, which was 16 per cent.
Bloomfield said the reason someone was in hospital was determined when they were discharged.
There were three reasons why people were admitted to hospital and had Covid-19.
This included people who had Covid symptoms requiring hospital care, had a pre-existing condition (such as diabetes or heart disease exacerbated by Covid) or were admitted to hospital for another reason, such as an injury, and had Covid.
He confirmed that the outbreak in Wellington appeared to still be on the way up, with 1584 cases reported today.
Bloomfield said there was still merit in people using the CovidTracer app to scan QR codes as there were circumstances where contact tracing may be needed.
"Businesses are still displaying them so I would encourage people to keep doing it."
Health officials may also want to use the contact tracing system more widely again in the future.
It may well be between 3000-5000 cases a day for some weeks and even into months and in that context, it may be worthwhile to be contact tracing.
On rapid antigen tests, Bloomfield said the limitation of RATS was known and acknowledged people were returning several negative tests and then a positive test.
Some people always returned negative tests but probably did have Covid, he said.
Bloomfield had been "pleasantly surprised" with the number of people reporting their negative and positive results and from tomorrow, the positivity rates via RATS per DHB would be reported.
Genome sequencing could only be done via PCR testing and there were still thousands of these tests done every day.
Bloomfield said the BA.2 variant had a "transmission advantage" but there was no evidence to indicate it was more severe than the earlier BA.1 variant.
Bloomfield said the peak may have been higher in Auckland because there was a predominance of the sub-variant BA.2.
Areas that had a big initial Omicron outbreak were also getting a second wave with the BA.2 subvariant, he said.
Bloomfield said 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.
Of those in hospital in the Northern region, 18 per cent were unvaccinated or not eligible, 3 per cent were partially immunised, 33 per cent were double vaccinated and 32 per cent were boosted. The vaccination status of 14 per cent of those in hospital was unknown.
The MoH said the figures showed that those aged over 12 who were unvaccinated and getting treatment in hospital were four times over-represented in the Northern region's hospitalisation figures compared to those who were vaccinated.
Case numbers in the Northern region were higher than the peak of 11,000 cases modelled by Te Pūnaha Matatini for the second week of March.
This could be due to the introduction of rapid antigen tests (RATS), he said, and there had been "remarkable" levels of result reporting.
The most important thing anyone could do is make sure they are "vaxxed to the max" and that included getting a booster.
It was clear that being up to date with vaccinations for Omicron increased three doses, he said.
After two doses of the vaccine, effectiveness against getting Omicron and being hospitalised does wane.
A March 8 report from the Northern regions showed that 84 per cent of the people admitted for Covid were not fully boosted.
Ministry of Health chief science adviser Dr Ian Town said most people who got Covid recovered fully.
Symptoms of Long Covid included headaches, low mood, cognitive impairment or brain fog, joint pains, ongoing changes to the sense of taste or smell and poor quality of sleep.
Advice on how to recover safely was available on the ministry's website.
On the reports of impact of Long Covid on the brain, Town said research showed there were changes in the brain area related to taste, smell and memory processing.
Around the world, researchers were looking at how to understand these lingering impacts of Long Covid.
The ministry would also fund a study that aimed to understand the experience of those who have had Covid, looking at both the long and short impacts of the virus.
Town said during recovery from infections such as this it was important to take it easy and follow the advice of your health practitioner.
Covid-19 was definitely not a disease to be taken trivially and just getting it for the sake of getting it may have short and long term consequences.
On Long Covid, the advice was similar to that given to chronic fatigue syndrome.
There was no suggestion these were psychological symptoms but were a very real experience.
Town said he would be very surprised if any GPs in New Zealand dismissed Long Covid as a psychological event as GPs in the country took quite a holistic approach.
There were also a large number of self-help groups on social media for Long Covid and there wasn't a magic bullet in terms of recovery.
The ministry's advisory group would provide a framework for people suffering Long Covid.
Despite the apparent flattening of Covid cases in the past week, the number of Covid-related deaths is continuing to climb with yesterday's two new deaths bringing the total to 115.
The number of people in hospital with Covid is also rising, with 952 patients being treated nationwide yesterday.
There were 15,540 new cases in the community yesterday - down from a high of about 24,000.
There is also cautious optimism that Auckland may be over the worst of the outbreak as the virus continues to spread and impact the rest of the country.
Other regions around the country are already facing record numbers for their regions today.
Canterbury has seen a record 2642 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the past 24 hours.
The Canterbury District Health Board announced the new cases in a post on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
It is the highest number of new cases reported to date, following from the 2260 new cases reported on Friday.
Tairāwhiti has also hit its record number today with 442 new cases including one person in hospital.
"This is the highest daily case total we've had so far, which shows Omicron is still circulating freely in the community," a post on the Hauora Tairāwhiti Facebook page said.
As well as numerous businesses and community facilities being forced to temporarily close due to staff shortages, the virus is now impacting schools, especially in the lower North Island.
Yesterday two Wairarapa schools - St Patrick's School in Masterton and Martinborough School - closed after staff and students were forced to self-isolate and students at a number of Wellington schools are also isolating.
It comes as experts say there needs to be an extra push for people to get the booster as almost 20 per cent of those eligible are still yet to get it.
University of Auckland public health lecturer Collin Tukuitonga told RNZ the word "booster" could make the dose sound like an optional extra.
"My own view is that we should never have described the two doses as being fully vaxxed," he said.
"Fully vaxxed in my mind for Omicron is the three doses and ... we should be clearer that the booster is essential in ensuring protection from Omicron."
Immunisation Advisory Centre medical director Nikki Turner agreed that all three doses should be considered as one full course of the vaccine. The booster was far more effective at preventing serious illness from Omicron than two doses, she said.
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