There are 23,894 new Covid-19 cases today - with 9081 of them are in Auckland. 

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay said 756 people were in hospital and 16 are in ICU or HDU. 

McElnay is leading a press conference updating New Zealand's response to the Covid-19 outbreak. 

The ministry's data and digital boss Michael Dreyer will join McElnay. 

The majority of the hospitalisations were in Auckland and were similar to yesterday. She said the number of people in hospital will unfortunately grow. 

McElnay said there was continued pressure on staff in hospitals due to Covid-19, particularly through the night. 

McElnay said there were 618 people were in hospital on on Sunday (March 6) - but just 1.6 per cent were in ICU - so the percentages were much lower than Delta. 

Critical healthcare workers can now return to work earlier than usual, but only if it can be done safely and it was needed to provide the service, she said. 

More than 25,000 school staff and students across New Zealand are thought to be currently isolating with Covid-19 as the virus creeps into about 60 per cent of the country's schools. 

Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said hospitalisations were being tracked, but these numbers might lag about five days behind real peak cases. 

Numbers were rising in northern regions, where Omicron was expected to peak first. 

"We're not there yet. We're doing the policy work to be prepared, regardless," the PM said. 

Yesterday, 17,522 new community cases of Covid-19 were reported. 

There were 696 people in hospital yesterday, including 13 in intensive care. 

Covid-19 was reported for the first time in the Chatham Islands. 

Emergency ambulance services nationwide meanwhile recorded the highest-ever 111 call volumes over the weekend. 

At its peak on Sunday, St John and Wellington Free Ambulance recorded 2322 calls into its Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch centres - about 100 more calls a day than the previous record.