There are 147 new community cases of Covid-19 today, all in the North Island.
The numbers come after the Government announced sweeping changes to international border restrictions.
The new cases are in Northland (14), Auckland (90), Waikato (15), Lakes (9), Bay of Plenty (8), Hawke’s Bay (7), and the Wellington region (4).
There are also 44 new cases at the border.
Thirteen people are in hospital with Covid-19, but none is in intensive care. Of those in hospital, one is in North Shore, five are at Middlemore, two are in Auckland, three are in Rotorua, one is in Hawke's Bay and one is in Wellington.
Today's 44 new cases at the border came from Italy, Pakistan, Egypt, Singapore, Australia, India, USA, Fiji, UAE, Turkey Saudi Arabia, Canada, Thailand, Qatar and Nepal.
There have now been 16,630 cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand since the pandemic began.
There are 14 new cases in Northland, across Kerikeri, Kaitaia, and Whangārei. Nine are linked to existing cases and investigations are under way to determine links for two cases.
Three of the cases reside in Northland but were originally allocated as Auckland cases. The people are being transferred for management to the Northland public health unit. Of these three cases, two are linked and one is yet to be connected to the outbreak.
Meanwhile, there are 90 new community cases in Auckland as health and welfare providers helped 1534 people in the region to isolate at home, including 568 cases.
There are 15 new cases in Waikato and most so far have been linked to previously reported cases.
In the Lakes DHB region, there are nine new cases. Eight of those cases are in the Rotorua district and one is in the Taupō district. One case has not been linked to existing cases.
There are eight cases to report in the Bay of Plenty today; five are in Tauranga, one is in the Western Bay of Plenty and two are in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Seven of the new Bay of Plenty cases are linked to existing cases and one is yet to be connected to the outbreak.
In the Hawke's Bay, there are seven new cases. Five of these cases are linked to existing cases while the remaining two are yet to be connected to the outbreak.
In the Wellington region, two new cases are in Wellington and two are in Porirua. Three are linked to existing cases and the fourth person's links are yet to be established.
Holiday weekend advice
Those heading away for the Waitangi long weekend have been urged by the Ministry of Health to plan for the potential of having to self-isolate or to stay longer in paid accommodation than planned.
"You are likely to need to self-isolate wherever you become a close contact or test positive, so there may be extra costs involved in paying for accommodation and changing your travel plans," the ministry said in a statement.
"There are limited alternative accommodation options for those who are unable to safely isolate in their own homes or if they have travelled elsewhere, and as case numbers rise, the accommodation will be focused on those with high needs."
Anyone with any Covid-19 symptoms should not travel and should get tested and isolate until they get a negative result back, the ministry said.
The most common early symptoms of Omicron were a sore or scratchy throat and a runny nose.
"All travellers should wear a mask in indoor settings, physical distance, and scan in using the NZ Covid Tracer app," the ministry said.
Positive case at hospital
This morning Capital and Coast District Health Board confirmed that a person tested positive for Covid-19 at Wellington Regional Hospital yesterday.
The person had turned up at the hospital for an issue not related to Covid but was tested because they had symptoms.
They were now isolating on a ward set up to manage Covid-19 patients and investigations were under way to determine the source of their infection, the health board said.
Border plan
Ahead of today's update on case numbers the Government announced it was reopening the border – starting with Kiwis coming from Australia from the end of the month.
In a speech to Business NZ in Auckland this morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern outlined the five stage process of reopening the borders.
It also came on the same day changes to the mask-wearing protocol come into effect from 11.59pm tonight.
The changes were announced nine days ago by Ardern at a press conference and they affect those visiting food and drink businesses and other close proximity settings, as well as some primary and secondary students and workplaces with vaccine mandates in place.
On the new mask rules, Ardern said they would further help the "slow down of Omicron".
One of the new rules is that a face mask now needs to be an actual mask, meaning a covering that is attached to the head by loops around the ears or head - scarfs, bandannas and even T-shirts no longer suffice.
Within just a month of the first community exposure to Omicron in New Zealand, the variant has already become the dominant strain of Covid-19.
New modelling predicted that New Zealand could hit 400 daily cases by the end of the week.
- additional reporting RNZ
