There are 9091 new community cases of Covid-19 and five further deaths being reported today.

Mutated SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus chimera, foreground, and SARS-CoV-2 delta strain, background, 3D models, 3D rendering.Photo: 123RF

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 411 people with the virus were in hospital, with 12 in ICU.

Of the deaths being reported today, one was in their 70s and four were in their 80s.

One was from the Wellington region; one from Bay of Plenty and three from Southern.

The number of people with Covid-19 who have died in New Zealand is now 1022.

Today’s new community cases were reported in Northland (260), Auckland (3,233), Waikato (696), Bay of Plenty (291), Lakes (175), Hawke’s Bay (303), MidCentral (281), Whanganui (124), Taranaki (265), Tairāwhiti (82), Wairarapa (83), Capital and Coast (595), Hutt Valley (250), Nelson Marlborough (265), Canterbury (1,317), South Canterbury (130), Southern (637), West Coast (103) and the location of one is unknown.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers is 7981 – last Thursday it was 7533.

There are also 90 new cases at the border today.

Yesterday saw the total number of deaths of people with Covid-19 in New Zealand pass the 1000 threshold, with 9570 community cases and 32 deaths reported.

The ministry yesterday also clarified how it defined Covid-19 causes of death in the country.

In a statement, the ministry said it was expediting the process for formally coding the cause of death for those who had died within 28 days of a Covid-19 infection or as a result of one.

“This means that most of the deaths that have now been publicly announced have been assessed as either having Covid-19 as the underlying cause, contributing to the death, or unrelated to the death,” the statement said.

The ministry acknowledged there had been a significant increase in the number of deaths from Covid-19 since the start of the Omicron outbreak, but said New Zealand had still experienced “significantly lower cumulative Covid-19 mortality than most countries”.