Coronavirus: New Zealand has 172 confirmed new cases of COVID-19

New Zealand has 172 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, reports the Ministry of Health.

Of today's new cases, 148 are in Auckland, one is in Wellington, three are in Bay of Plenty, four are in the Lakes District, four are in Northland and 12 are in Waikato.

The total number of cases in this outbreak is now 6,701.

To date, a total of 2,305 cases from this outbreak are now reported as having recovered from Covid-19.

The total number of cases in Auckland this outbreak is 6,246 (2,158 of whom have recovered), 325 in Waikato (98 of whom have recovered), 18 in Wellington (17 of whom have recovered), 62 cases in Northland (28 of whom have recovered), six cases in Canterbury (three of whom have recovered), six active cases in Taranaki, 21 active cases in the Lakes District, three active cases in MidCentral, 10 active cases in Bay of Plenty and three active cases in Wairarapa.

There are 70 people in hospital, including five patients in intensive care.

To date, 91% of New Zealanders have had their first dose and 83% are fully vaccinated.

Auckland is currently at alert 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 9,461 confirmed cases since the pandemic began last year and 38 deaths.