The total number of current cases throughout the Toi Te Ora Public Health area is 23,499.
Throughout the entire country, there are more people in hospital with Covid-19 than at any other point over the last two years. There are 845 today.
The Ministry of Health also revealed there were 21,015 total community cases throughout New Zealand.
There has also been a change in how virus deaths are reported.
"We will automatically report all deaths of people who die within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. This is the approach used by the UK and many other countries. As of today, this number is 81," the ministry said.
Other details they will include on some deaths outside of the window.
• People for whom it is clear that Covid-19 is the cause of death. As of today, this number is 34.
• People who had (or were subsequently found to have) Covid-19 when they died but their cause of death was clearly not Covid-19 related. As of today, this number is 2.
• People whose cause of death is still under investigation e.g. it is being considered by the Coroner, but we know they had Covid-19 when they died. As of today, this number is 48.
Omicron peak
The next few days should indicate whether Auckland's Omicron outbreak has peaked, but the rest of the country was still some way off, director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says.
Speaking before the Health Select Committee this morning, Bloomfield said they were watching closely case numbers in the next few days, and that should indicate whether Auckland has reached its peak number of cases.
But the rest of the country would see peaks at different times, he said.
Read more here.
MIQ winds down
Meanwhile, only four out of 32 MIQ facilities would stay in the network.
The end of managed isolation hotels means more than 600 Defence Force personnel involved will be able to return to their units.
Rydges in downtown Auckland will be the first hotel to leave the network, on April 30.
"MIQ meant that not everyone could come home when they wanted to. But it also meant that Covid-19 could not come in when it wanted to, either," said Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.
Hipkins said it had served us "incredibly well" and he acknowledged all those who had worked in managed isolation and quarantine facilities around the country.
Isolation period reduced
Yesterday it was announced that the isolation period for Covid-19 cases and their household contacts would be slashed from 10 to seven days from midnight on Friday.
Hipkins said as case numbers increased, larger numbers of people needed to isolate and the reduced isolation time was because of high case numbers and wider impacts.
"There needs to be a balance between effectively controlling the outbreak and the flow-on effect for business and essential goods and services such as transport and food supply."
