More than 2.1 million booster shots have now been given nationally, with more than 15,000 administered on Sunday.

Getting the booster dose greatly reduces your chances of getting severely ill and requiring hospital care if you test positive for COVID-19, so if it’s been three months since your last dose, please book your booster today.

Additionally, 90% of Māori in Counties Manukau DHB have now received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Omicron has spread to all DHBs across the North and South Islands, but all of us can play our part to slow the spread of the virus, help protect our most vulnerable people from being infected, and ensure our health system is able to manage extra demand for services.

As always, anyone with any cold or flu symptoms that could be COVID-19 is asked to get a test and isolate at home until a negative result is returned and they are feeling well. Regardless of your test result, it is still important that anyone who is unwell stays home to reduce the spread of other viruses.

The most common early symptom of the Omicron variant is a cough, followed by a sore throat and/or runny nose.

Rapid Antigen Testing in Auckland

From this morning, rapid antigen tests are now available at Auckland Community Testing Centres only to those who fit the appropriate clinical criteria. The site will determine which test (PCR or a rapid antigen test) is best for you.

Access to rapid antigen tests will be expanded further during the coming week.  At this time, please do not visit your GP for a RAT test or call them for guidance on RAT eligibility at Community Testing Centres. We will be providing further updates on the rollout throughout this week.

As the outbreak grows, more people will have COVID-19 and there will be more close contacts we need to test. As planned, we will now increase the use of RATs in phase 2 and phase 3 of our response in order to relieve pressure on the PCR testing and reserve it for those most likely to have COVID-19.

Remember, only those with symptoms or who have been identified as close contacts of a case, or directed by a health professional to get tested, should be turning up at testing sites.

People who are directed to have a rapid antigen test will be given advice on what to do if they have a positive result. At the current time, they will likely be advised that they need to have a PCR test to confirm the positive result.

For a list of all Community Testing Centres in Auckland, please visit www.covid19testing.nz

Testing reminder

As this demand 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. Our frontline staff across the health sector are doing the best they can to help in a timely way.

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

COVID-19 related deaths*

Sadly, we are today reporting the death of a patient at Middlemore Hospital.

The family has requested that no further details be released and, out of respect for those wishes, we will be making no further comment.

Additionally, we are also saddened to report the death of a patient in their 70s at Auckland City Hospital following a diagnosis of COVID-19.

Our thoughts and condolences are with both patients’ family and friends.

*These two deaths are not yet reflected in the data reported on the Ministry’s website, which will be updated accordingly.

COVID-19 vaccine update**   

• Vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people aged 12 and over): 4,244,738 first doses (96%); 3,954,111 second doses (95%); 2,169,906 booster doses (66%). 
• Vaccines administered yesterday:1,338 first doses; 649 second doses; 1,122 paediatric doses; 15,441 booster doses. 
• Māori (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 517,718 first doses (91%); 495,766 second doses (87%); 180,429 booster doses (56%)
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 279,944 first doses (98%); 273,482 second doses (95%); 108,242 booster doses (53%)
• Paediatric vaccines administered to date (percentage of 5-11-year-olds): 228,182 first doses (48%).  
• Māori (percentage of eligible people aged 5-11): 32,698 first doses (28%).   
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people aged 5-11): 19,454 first doses (39%). 

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

• Northland DHB: first doses (90%); second doses (88%); booster doses (66%)
• Auckland Metro DHB: first doses (97%); second doses (96%); booster doses (63%)
• Waikato DHB: first doses (95%); second doses (93%); booster doses (63%)  
• Bay of Plenty DHB: first doses (95%); second doses (93%); booster doses (64%) 
• Lakes DHB: first doses (94%); second doses (91%); booster doses (65%)  
• MidCentral DHB: first doses (97%); second doses (95%); booster doses (69%)  
• Tairāwhiti DHB: first doses (93%); second doses (90%); booster doses (66%)  
• Whanganui DHB: first doses (92%); second doses (90%); booster doses (70%)  
• Hawke’s Bay DHB: first doses (97%); second doses (95%); booster doses (68%) 
• Taranaki DHB: first doses (95%); second doses (93%); booster doses (64%)  
• Wairarapa DHB: first doses (97%); second doses (95%); booster doses (72%)  
• Capital and Coast DHB: first doses (99%); second doses (98%); booster doses (73%)
• Hutt Valley DHB: first doses (97%); second doses (96%); booster doses (71%)   
• Nelson Marlborough DHB: first doses (97%); second doses (95%); booster doses (74%)  
• West Coast DHB: first doses (93%); second doses (91%); booster doses (70%)  
• Canterbury DHB: first doses (100%); second doses (98%); booster doses (67%)  
• South Canterbury DHB: first doses (95%); second doses (94%); booster doses (71%)
• Southern DHB: first doses (98%); second doses (96%); booster doses (71%)

**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 116: Northland: 1; North Shore: 20; Middlemore: 34; Auckland: 47; Tauranga: 1; Waikato: 12; Tairāwhiti: 1
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 58
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 1
• Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region only, excluding Emergency Departments): Unvaccinated or not eligible (14 cases / 14.6%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (3 cases / 3.1%); fully vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (78 cases / 81.2%); unknown (one case / 1%). 

Cases 

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 1,667
• Seven day rolling average of border cases: 11
• Number of new community cases: 2,365
• Location of new community cases*: Northland (50), Auckland (1,692), Waikato (136), Bay of Plenty (42), Lakes (24), Hawke’s Bay (23), MidCentral (14), Whanganui (5), Taranaki (4), Tairāwhiti (9), Wairarapa (8), Capital and Coast (89), Hutt Valley (19), Nelson Marlborough (58), Canterbury (105), South Canterbury (1), Southern (86).
• Number of new cases identified at the border: 12 
• Location of origin of border cases: Full travel history not obtained (12).
• Number of active community cases (total): 15,928 (cases identified in the past 21 days and not yet classified as recovered) 
• Confirmed cases (total): 32,927

* 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): 27,109
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 28,567
• Number of Rapid Antigen Tests stock available in New Zealand: 7.3 million