Today there are 5647 community cases, 350 hospitalisations and 3 deaths to report.
The Ministry of Health said in its daily update seven-day rolling average of community case numbers is 7510 – approximately the same as last Sunday's 7414 reported cases.
The deaths being reported today include people who have died over the past three days.
Delays to reporting can be associated with people dying with Covid-19, rather than from Covid-19, and Covid being discovered only after they have died.
These deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 860 and the 7-day rolling average of reported deaths is 16.
Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today; two people were from Canterbury and one from MidCentral.
Two people were in their 80s and one was aged over 90.
Two were men and one was a woman.
Cases in hospital: total number 350: Northland: 10; Waitemata: 41; Counties Manukau: 33; Auckland: 73; Waikato: 30; Bay of Plenty: 21; Lakes: 3; Tairāwhiti: 0; Hawke’s Bay: 13; Taranaki: 6; Whanganui: 0; MidCentral: 16; Wairarapa: 2; Hutt Valley: 3; Capital and Coast: 14; Nelson Marlborough: 6; Canterbury: 59; South Canterbury: 2; West Coast: 1; Southern: 17
Location of new community cases (PCR & RAT): Northland (129), Auckland (1,895), Waikato (353), Bay of Plenty (143), Lakes (77), Hawke’s Bay (176), MidCentral (184), Whanganui (69), Taranaki (131), Tairāwhiti (30), Wairarapa (67), Capital and Coast (424), Hutt Valley (206), Nelson Marlborough (189), Canterbury (914), South Canterbury (83), Southern (523), West Coast (51), Unknown (3)
Border case with Omicron BA.5 variant
"A person who has travelled from overseas to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the BA.5 variant of Omicron. This is the first known detection of the variant in New Zealand.
"The person arrived in New Zealand from South Africa on 26 April, returned a positive RAT from their day 5/6 test on 1 May and a positive PCR sample taken on 2 May and the result reported the following day. Whole genome sequencing was undertaken as part of ongoing border surveillance for emerging variants and subsequently confirmed the BA.5 variant.
"The person followed all testing and reporting requirements, allowing this new sub-variant to be identified quickly, and has now completed their isolation at home.
"This follows the detection of BA.4 on 1 May also in a person who had travelled from South Africa.
"Both BA.4 and BA.5 have been reported in Southern Africa and Europe, and both variants have been detected in Australia. The arrival of the BA.5 sub-variant in New Zealand is not unexpected and underlines the importance of the rapid antigen testing of all arrivals at day 0/1 and day 5/6 followed by a PCR test of any arrivals who test positive which then allows whole genome sequencing to be done.
"At this stage, the public health settings already in place to manage other Omicron variants are assessed to be appropriate for managing both BA.4 and BA.5 and no changes are required.
"Both BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants are being monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO says that vaccination remains effective against these new subvariants.
"It can take weeks or months to assess the severity of each new variant or sub-variant, so the Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the emerging evidence closely."
