The booster rollout continues with more than 27,770 booster doses administered across the motu yesterday.

With Omicron spreading rapidly in New Zealand, it is important everyone who is eligible gets a booster dose, which greatly reduces your chances of getting severely ill and requiring hospital care if you test positive for COVID-19.

This will reduce COVID-19 hospitalisations and ensure there is capacity in our health system for anyone who needs care.

If it has been three months since your last dose, please book your booster today.

Testing reminder

The Ministry of Health continues to stress the importance of the right people being tested for the right reasons.

Over the last week, a significant number of concerned people who don’t need a test are going to get a test – those are people who don’t have any COVID-19 symptoms and are not a contact of a case.

People should only get tested if they have cold or flu symptoms, have been identified as a close contact of a case, or have been asked to get tested by a health official.

As demand for testing has grown, some COVID-19 test results for Auckland and Waikato are currently taking longer to process at laboratories. The use of rapid antigen testing, alongside PCR testing, will improve this process at a time of exceptional demand in Phase 2, provided the Community Testing Centre queues are freely available for those who really need a test.

We are anticipating continued high demand at our COVID-19 testing sites, so our request is to, please, be patient. Staff across the testing network are working tirelessly, to process tests and return results in a timely way. We would like to thank them for their recent mahi.

For a full list of testing sites nationwide, visit the Healthpoint website.

COVID-19 vaccine update 

Vaccinations administered in New Zealand  

• Vaccines administered to date: 4,016,886 first doses (for those 12+) ; 3,953,287 second doses (for those 12+); 32,553 third primary doses; 2,197,887 booster doses: 229,583 paediatric first doses and 1,962 paediatric second doses*. 
• Vaccines administered yesterday: 471 first doses; 981 second doses; 66 third primary doses; 27,770 booster doses; 1,273 paediatric first doses and 125 paediatric second doses. 

People vaccinated  (including those vaccinated overseas)

• All Ethnicities (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 4,059,178 Partially vaccinated (96.4%); 3,994,253 second doses (94.9%), 2,199,518 boosted (67.1% of those eligible)**. 
• Māori (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 517,930 Partially vaccinated (90.7%); 496,135 second doses (86.9%), 182,986 boosted (56.5% of those eligible). 
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 280,045 first doses (97.7%); 273,635 second doses (95.4%), 109,954 boosted (54% of those eligible). 
• 5 to 11-year-olds all ethnicities: 229,487 first doses (48.2%). 
• 5 to 11-year-olds - Māori: 33,000 first doses (28.6%). 
• 5 to 11-year-olds - Pacific Peoples: 19,688 first doses (39.9%). 

* In recent days, the total number of vaccines administered to date for first and second doses has included paediatric doses, which explains why today’s figures appear lower. Reporting going forward for total vaccines administered to date will not include paediatric doses.

**Note, that the number for “People vaccinated” differs slightly from “Vaccines administered” as it includes those that have been vaccinated overseas.

Vaccination rates for all DHBs (percentage of eligible people aged 12 +)

• Northland DHB: partially vaccinated (90.2%); fully vaccinated (87.6%); boosted (66.5%). 
• Auckland Metro DHB: partially vaccinated (97.3%); fully vaccinated (96%); boosted (64%). 
• Waikato DHB: partially vaccinated (95.2%); fully vaccinated (93.3%); boosted (63.7%). 
• Bay of Plenty DHB: partially vaccinated (95.2%); fully vaccinated (93.1%); boosted (64.9%). 
• Lakes DHB: partially vaccinated (93.5%); fully vaccinated (91.2%); boosted (65.7%). 
• MidCentral DHB: partially vaccinated (96.7%); fully vaccinated (95%); boosted (69.7%). 
• Tairāwhiti DHB: partially vaccinated (93.2%); fully vaccinated (90.4%); boosted (66.1%). 
• Whanganui DHB: partially vaccinated (92.3%); fully vaccinated (90.3%); boosted (70.9%). 
• Hawke’s Bay DHB: partially vaccinated (97.1%); fully vaccinated (94.9%); boosted (68.6%). 
• Taranaki DHB: partially vaccinated (94.8%); fully vaccinated (92.9%); boosted (64.5%). 
• Wairarapa DHB: partially vaccinated (96.7%); fully vaccinated (94.9%); boosted (72.4%). 
• Capital and Coast DHB: partially vaccinated (98.7%); fully vaccinated (97.7%); boosted (74%). 
• Hutt Valley DHB: partially vaccinated (96.9%); fully vaccinated (95.5%); boosted (71.5%). 
• Nelson Marlborough DHB: partially vaccinated (96.8%); fully vaccinated (95.2%); boosted (74.3%). 
• West Coast DHB: partially vaccinated (93%); fully vaccinated (91%); boosted (70.5%). 
• Canterbury DHB: partially vaccinated (99.7%); fully vaccinated (98.4%); boosted (68.2%). 
• South Canterbury DHB: partially vaccinated (95.4%); fully vaccinated (94%); boosted (71.9%). 
• Southern DHB: partially vaccinated (97.8%); fully vaccinated (96.4%); boosted (72%).

**First and second dose percentages are for those 12+. Booster dose percentages are for 18+ who have become eligible three months after having their second dose.

Hospitalisations 

• Cases in hospital: total number 143: North Shore: 27; Middlemore: 51; Auckland: 50; Tauranga: 5; Lakes: 1; Waikato: 7; Tairāwhiti: 1; Canterbury: 1
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 56
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 1
• Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region only, excluding Emergency Departments): Unvaccinated or not eligible (19 cases / 18%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (4 cases / 4%); fully vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (80 cases / 75%); unknown (4 cases / 4%).

Cases 

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 1,966
• Seven day rolling average of border cases: 11
• Number of new community cases: 2,846
• Location of new community cases*: Northland (36), Auckland (1,802), Waikato (285), Bay of Plenty (86), Lakes (19), Hawke’s Bay (25), MidCentral (25), Whanganui (19), Taranaki (26), Tairāwhiti (17), Wairarapa (2), Capital and Coast (84), Hutt Valley (25), Nelson Marlborough (77), Canterbury (105), South Canterbury (4), Southern (206).
• Number of new cases identified at the border: 15
• Location of origin of border cases: Full travel history not obtained (14); United Arab Emirates (1)
• Number of active community cases (total): 18,628 (cases identified in the past 21 days and not yet classified as recovered) 
• Confirmed cases (total): 35,771

* Please note, the Ministry of Health’s daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO.

Tests 

• Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 24,351
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 29,036
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests stock available in New Zealand: 7.3 million