Coronavirus: New Zealand has 143 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the community

New Zealand has 143 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, reports the Ministry of Health.

Of today's new cases, 135 are in Auckland, while two are in Northland and six are in Waikato - taking the total number of cases in Waikato to 118 (35 of whom have recovered).

70 of these new cases are household or close contacts of existing cases.

Today a total of 1,625 cases are now reported as having recovered from Covid-19.

That brings the total number of active cases in the community to 1,723 (the total number of cases in this outbreak is now 3,348).

There are now 12 active cases in Northland, four in Christchurch (one previously reported case has been reclassified as historical) and one in Nelson/Marlborough.

There are 56 people in hospital, including two patients in intensive care.

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.

Northland and the rest of the country are at alert level 2.

Last week, 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 6,068 confirmed cases since the pandemic began last year and 28 deaths.