Coronavirus: NZ has 43 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the community

New Zealand has 43 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, says Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.

Of today's new cases 40 are in Auckland, while three are in Waikato - taking the total number of active cases in Waikato to 34.

A total of 24 of these new cases are household or close contacts of existing cases. 

Today a total of 1,186 cases are now reported as having recovered from Covid-19.

That brings the total number of active cases in the community to 478 (the total number of cases in this outbreak is now 1,664).

There are 34 people in hospital, including five patients in intensive care.

Auckland, Northland 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.

The rest of the country is at alert level 2.

New Zealand has had 4,345 confirmed cases since the pandemic began last year.