Toi Te Ora-Public Health today reported 737 new cases in Tauranga City, 348 in Rotorua District, 223 in Western Bay of Plenty, 250 in Whakatane District, 53 in Kawerau, 89 in Ōpōtiki and 162 in Taupō.
There are currently 18,373 active cases in the Bay of Plenty DHB area and 6974 in Lakes.
Toi Te Ora said with differences in reporting systems, report timeframes, and as case information was updated there may be some discrepancies in numbers such as with Ministry of Health data.
The ministry is reporting the deaths of seven people with Covid-19 today. Of these deaths, five occurred in the Auckland region, one in Waikato, and one in the Southern region.
The total number of publicly reported Covid-19 related deaths to date is 98.
Isolation cut down
From midnight tonight, the isolation period for Covid-19 cases and their household contacts will be reduced from 10 to seven days.
In announcing the change Covid Response Minister Chris 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," he said.
"The most up-to-date public health advice is that there is a decline in infectiousness of Omicron over time, and that in most cases transmission occurs within seven days.
"Seven days isolation will break the vast majority of potential transmissions, while ensuring people can get back to work quicker and therefore reducing the impact on business operations."
Household contacts would need to have a rapid antigen test at day 3 and day 7 of their isolation period.
If they become symptomatic they should also get a test, and if the result was positive, they would need to reset their week-long isolation period from that point.
