The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has hit a record 845 today, Dr Ashley Bloomfield says. 

There are 21,015 cases today in the community, Bloomfield said. 

Of the 845 people in hospital today, 16 people are in ICU. 

Bloomfield said the Delta variant was last detected in mid February via sequencing. 

He said although we haven't got any hospital admissions with the Delta variant, we do know it's still out there in the community. 

Covid deaths 

Bloomfield said there would be some changes to the reporting of Covid related deaths. 

From today, there would be a dual reporting approach. 

They will report different categories: 

• Number of people who died within 28 days of positive Covid-19 test;
  • Number of people whose official cause of death was determined as Covid;
  • Number of people where Covid was contributing factor, but not the cause; 
  • People who died within 28 days of positive Covid test, but cause has yet to be determined. 

The total number of Covid deaths to date is 91, Bloomfield said. 

Each one of these deaths represents a community and a whānau that is grieving and he passed on his condolences, he said. 

GPs under pressure 

Dr Samantha Murton, of Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, said there has been a substantial increase in the volume of work for GPs. 

She said a huge amount of work has been put on GP. 

We recognise the people who had been physically generally well and vaccinated and boosted were able to manage it from home, she said. 

If everyone was calling GP, there would be a lot of work, she said. 

GPs were working very hard and doing the best the could for their patients and although they were prepared it could be a bit messy, she said. 

There were also issues around isolation and needing supporting, and sometimes they sought this from the GPs and that was OK, but added to the workload, she explained. 

Her colleagues had suggested people be kind to their practices. "Please have a bit a of patience as patients and be kind to the staff." 

RAT results for kids 

A challenge parents were having was reporting RAT results for their children and he acknowledged those that had been calling the 0800 number and experiencing delays, Bloomfield said. 

Capacity in the 0800 222 478 number had been increased, he said. 

Test results for children 12 and under can be done online, via My Covid Record, from tomorrow, he said. 

He thanks everyone who had logged their RAT result so far. 

He said from tomorrow parents and caregivers would be able to report their children's results online. 

Today, the Novavax vaccine is available for New Zealanders to book after a shipment of 250,000 arrived. 

It is available to those over the age of 18. It requires two doses, with a three-week gap and it has not been approved as a booster dose. 

Bloomfield said the rest of the country was still some way of from peaking and that areas would peak at different times. 

He said they would be watching case numbers closely in the next few days, and should get an indication of whether Auckland has reached its peak number of cases. 

About 40 per cent of people turning up to emergency departments were testing positive for Covid-19, but again some would be seeking care for the virus and others for separate reasons. 

Bloomfield said they were working to compile data on whether people were going to hospital because of how ill they were from Covid-19 or if they had simply tested positive while admitted. 

Meanwhile, only four out of 32 MIQ facilities would stay in the network. 

The end of managed isolation hotels means more than 600 Defence Force personnel involved will be able to return to their units. 

Rydges in downtown Auckland will be the first hotel to leave the network, on April 30. 

"MIQ meant that not everyone could come home when they wanted to. But it also meant that Covid-19 could not come in when it wanted to, either," said Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins. 

Hipkins said it had served us "incredibly well" and he acknowledged all those who had worked in managed isolation and quarantine facilities around the country. 

Yesterday it was announced that the isolation period for Covid-19 cases and their household contacts would be slashed from 10 to seven days from midnight on Friday. 

Hipkins said as case numbers increased, larger numbers of people needed to isolate and the reduced isolation time was because of high case numbers and wider impacts. 

"There needs to be a balance between effectively controlling the outbreak and the flow-on effect for business and essential goods and services such as transport and food supply."