There are 19,542 new community cases of Covid-19 today, the Ministry of Health reported, and 24 Covid-related deaths. 

There are 971 people in hospital, including 21 in intensive care. 

Hipkins had already been isolating for seven days after one of his children tested positive last week. 

Yesterday there were 21,616 Covid cases in the community and a record 960 patients in hospital battling the virus. Two more people - one in Southern DHB and one in Lakes DHB - also died with the virus. They were both over 70 years old. 

The average age of those currently in hospital with Covid-19 is 58. 

But the actual case numbers could be much higher as health officials believe testing is only picking up half of the total positive Covid-19 cases in Auckland and Northland. 

The number of ICU or HDU beds are also starting to fill up around the country, with about 60 per cent of the 300 intensive care and high dependency unit beds in NZ occupied so far. 

Less than 10 per cent of total ICU and HDU beds were occupied by Covid-positive people, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday. 

On a daily basis, between 10-20 per cent of ventilators were in use, so there was plenty of capacity. 

Meanwhile, cases are rising in other parts of the country, including Wellington. 

Bloomfield confirmed that the outbreak in Wellington appeared to still be on the way up, with 1584 cases reported yesterday. 

It may well be between 3000-5000 cases a day for some weeks or even months and, in that context, it may be worthwhile to continue contact tracing, he said. 

Yesterday both Gisborne and Canterbury also recorded their highest number of cases so far in the outbreak. 

Meanwhile, people are still being urged to have a booster jab, with Bloomfield confirming just 16 per cent of people admitted to Auckland hospitals over a two-week period were boosted. 

There was interest in the length of time people should wait if they have Covid and want to get their booster shot - and that is three months.