Eighty percent of Māori are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This follows 454,492 of eligible Māori now having received their second dose.

Both Waikato and Hawkes Bay have now reached 90% fully vaccinated. In Waikato 320,537 eligible people have now had their second dose and in the Hawke’s Bay 130,771 are now double-dosed.

Holiday reminder

Season’s greetings from the Ministry of Health. We’re asking everyone to play their part to reduce the spread of the virus over the break.

Anyone with any symptoms that could be COVID-19, is asked to get a test, and remain where they are until they receive a negative result and are feeling better. For those away on holiday who test positive you will be contacted regarding your ongoing care.

Testing locations nationwide can be found on the Healthpoint website.

People who are out and about today are asked to wear a mask and maintain physical distance in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor spaces and scan in using the COVID-19 Tracer app.

The vaccine remains our key defence against all variants of COVID-19, including Omicron. We continue to ask everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated, including people who are now eligible for a booster dose.

COVID-19 vaccine update

• Vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people): 3,971,765 first doses (94%); 3,834,830 second doses (91%); 27,948 third primary doses; 273,640 booster doses.
• Vaccines administered over past 24 hours (please note vaccination centres closed yesterday for Christmas Day): 5 first doses; 52 second doses; 1 third primary doses and 49 booster doses.
• Māori (percentage of eligible people): 498,975 first doses (87%); 454,492 second doses (80%)
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people): 269,184 first doses (94%); 255,887 second doses (89%)

Vaccination rates by DHB with active cases (percentage of eligible people)

• Northland DHB: First doses (88%); second doses (84%)
• Auckland Metro DHBs: First doses (96%); second doses (93%)
• Waikato DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (90%)
• Bay of Plenty DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (89%)
• Lakes DHB: First doses (92%); second doses (87%)
• Taranaki DHB: First doses (93%); second doses (89%)
• Hawke’s Bay DHB: First doses (94%); second doses (90%)
• Tairāwhiti DHB: First doses (91%); second doses (85%)
• Hutt Valley DHB: First doses (95%); second doses (92%)
• Nelson-Marlborough DHB: First doses (95%); second doses (91%)
• Canterbury DHB: First doses (98%); second doses (95%)

Hospitalisations

• Cases in hospital: 47; North Shore: 5; Auckland: 14; Middlemore: 22; Waikato: 2; Tauranga: 4
• Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only): Unvaccinated or not eligible (16 cases / 42.1%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (6 cases / 15.8%); fully vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (16 cases/ 42.1%); unknown (0 cases / 0%)
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 55
• Cases in ICU or HDU: 7 (2 in Auckland; 3 in Middlemore; 2 in Tauranga)

Cases

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 51
• Number of new community cases: 126 over two days
• Number of new cases identified at the border: 10 over two days
• Number of new Omicron cases identified at the border: 7 new over two days, taking total to 45
• Location of new community cases over two days: Auckland (88), Waikato (17), Bay of Plenty (6), Lakes (13), Taranaki (1), Northland 1
• Number of community cases (current community outbreak total): 10,619
• Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 7,885
• Number of active cases (total cases identified in the past 21 days and not yet classed as recovered): 1,385
• Confirmed cases (total): 13,485

Contacts

• Number of active contacts being managed (total): 6,124
• Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 80%
• Percentage who have returned at least one result: 75%

Tests

• Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 10,569
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 16,758
• Auckland tests total (last 24 hours): 11,066

Wastewater

• There has been a new COVID-19 detection in wastewater in Te Puke and in Seaview in the Hutt Valley, in samples taken on 22 December and 23 respectively.
• A new detection in wastewater in Whangarei follows an earlier negative result.
• Further samples in these and other areas will be collected this week for analysis.

NZ COVID Tracer

• Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday: 1,679,572
• Manual diary entries in 24 hours to midday: 24,520

My Vaccine Pass

• My vaccine passes issued total: 4,536,795
• My vaccine passes issued (last 48 hours): 21,701