Coronavirus: New Zealand has 173 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in the community

New Zealand has 173 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, reports the Ministry of Health.

Of today's new cases, 163 are in Auckland, one is in the Lakes District, two are in Northland and seven are in Waikato.

Today there is also a new case in the Wairarapa town of Masterton. This has not been included in the official numbers as it came through after the Ministry's 9am cut off. This will be officially recorded tomorrow.

People in Wairarapa are advised to check the Ministry's website for any locations of interest and if they have symptoms, even if they are mild and they are vaccinated, to get tested.

Today a total of 2,122 cases are now reported as having recovered from Covid-19.

That brings the total number of active cases in the community to 3,629 (the total number of cases in this outbreak is now 5,751).

The total number of cases in Auckland are 5,429 (2,001 of whom have recovered), 239 in Waikato (85 of whom have recovered), 46 cases in Northland (15 of whom have recovered), six active cases in Taranaki, six active cases in the Lakes District, two active cases in Tararua and four cases in Canterbury (three of whom have recovered).

There are 90 people in hospital, including seven patients in intensive care.

There were 14,638 first and second vaccine doses administered yesterday - made up of 4,645 first doses and 9,993 second doses.

To date, 90% of New Zealanders have had their first dose and 81% are fully vaccinated.

Auckland and parts of Waikato (Raglan, Te Kauwhata, Ngaruawahia, Hamilton city, Huntly, Te Kuiti, Waipa, Ōtorohanga, Te Awamutu, Karapiro and Cambridge) are currently at alert level 3.

Auckland and Waikato have seen an easing of restrictions and are now at level 3 step 2.

The rest of the country is at alert level 2.

Previously, the Prime Minister revealed New Zealand will move into a new way of managing Covid-19 when District Health Boards have 90 per cent of their eligible populations vaccinated.

The traffic light system will use vaccine certificates to allow complying businesses to continue to operate at all times - and proposes to end nationwide lockdowns.

New Zealand has had 8,504 confirmed cases since the pandemic began last year and 34 deaths.