There are 2522 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today, including 77 across the Canterbury area.
It's a record number for the country, after after 1901 were announced yesterday, and the previous record of 1929 on Friday.
There also 17 new cases at the border, the Ministry of Health said in today's statement.
There are 100 people in hospital across the country, none in ICU.
The breakdown of today's new cases is: Northland (41), Auckland (1,799), Waikato (188), Bay of Plenty (86), Lakes (11), Hawke’s Bay (24), MidCentral (13), Whanganui (2), Taranaki (9), Tairāwhiti (12), Wairarapa (14), Capital and Coast (54), Hutt Valley (25), Nelson Marlborough (53), Canterbury (76), South Canterbury (1), Southern (111). Unknown (3).
There are 13,785 active community cases, and the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic is 30,694.
Meanwhile, epidemiologist Michael Baker has said case numbers were doubling roughly every four to five days.
The University of Otago professor believed on current trends we could reach 10,000 daily cases by early March.
However, Baker said even if we did reach that number of cases, we may not actually see them because of a lack of testing capacity.
Cases have been detected in every district health board in New Zealand - as of yesterday most were still in Auckland.
The ministry said that from Monday morning, rapid antigen tests will be made available at all Auckland testing sites "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."
- ODT Online with NZ Herald
