There are 15 deaths, 1016 people in hospital and 20,907 community Covid cases today. 

Twenty-five people are in intensive care units around the country. 

Of the 15 people who died with Covid, nine were from Auckland, three from Waikato, and three were from Wellington. 

One of these people was in their 50s, three in their 60s, six in their 70s, and five were in their 80s. 

These deaths took the total number of publicly reported Covid-related deaths to 199 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths to 10. 

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and primary care lead Dr Joe Bourne are hosting a media briefing on the state of the Omicron outbreak in New Zealand. 

Bloomfield said the latest analysis confirms Covid case numbers had passed the peak in metropolitan Auckland and were decreasing in all three DHBs. 

The analysis also showed increases across the rest of the country were slowing. Case numbers were still "very much on the increase" in the South Island, however. 

Hospitalisations were levelling off in the north, Bloomfield said. They were expected to drop this week. 

People were on average staying five days in ICU. Early in the outbreak were younger people often treated and discharged overnight, but this had changed. 

New admissions in the north each day were dropping but people were sicker and requiring greater care, keeping the number in hospital steady. 

There had been decreases in positivity rates at hospitals. 

Hospital admissions were continuing to grow, but the Auckland share was decreasing. 

In the Delta outbreak the hospitalisation rate was 8 per cent, while in Auckland for Omicron it was 0.9 per cent. 

This showed the lesser severity of the variant but also impact of vaccines, Bloomfield said. 

In the seven days to March 20, there was a 1 per cent increase in community cases compared with 44 per cent in the seven days to March 13. 

In the Northern region, the peak went higher than original modelling. That could be because infections were from BA2 and not BA1, which modelling was based on. 

On the deaths being recorded, Bloomfield said Omicron was not a trivial illness. 

Flu had about 500-600 deaths a year. At 10 deaths a day, Bloomfield said this was clearly more deadly than flu. 

Part of that was it was much more transmissible. 

He urged people to do all they could to reduce the prevalence of the virus, and getting vaccinated was one of the most important things. 

Bloomfield said he was not at Cabinet on Monday for the big decisions. 

Previously, Bloomfield said he had attended to brief ministers around alert level changes. 

We were at a different stage of the pandemic now, he said. 

Asked if lockdowns were off the table, he said that was for the Government to decide. 

However, Bloomfield said there was no reason to believe the next variant would follow the same path as Omicron, given how different each variant had been. 

Today's community cases are in Northland (802), Auckland (4291), Waikato (1882), Bay of Plenty (1218), Lakes (594), Hawke's Bay (1243), MidCentral (954), Whanganui (399), Taranaki (636), Tairāwhiti (382), Wairarapa (323), Capital and Coast (1377), Hutt Valley (808), Nelson Marlborough (683), Canterbury (3,488), South Canterbury (318), Southern (1439) and the West Coast (50). 

The locations of 20 of today's reported cases were unknown, the ministry said. 

There were 34 Covid-19 cases detected at the border. 

The seven-day rolling average of Covid-19 community cases is 17,020 and there are now 119,131 active community cases in New Zealand. 

Only 231 of today's reported cases were identified using PCR testing with the remaining found using RATs. 

The 1016 people hospitalised with Covid-19 are at Northland (28), North Shore (170), Middlemore (227), Auckland (210), Waikato (79), Bay of Plenty (39), Lakes (10), Tairāwhiti (4), Hawke's Bay (43), Taranaki (11), Whanganui (7), MidCentral (19), Hutt Valley (23), Capital and Coast (45), Wairarapa (8), Nelson Marlborough (12), Canterbury (56), South Canterbury (2) and Southern (23) hospitals. 

The rate and numbers of deaths are likely to increase as the virus spreads among older populations, the ministry said. 

The average age of current hospitalisations is 59. 

The vaccination status of those hospitalised in the northern region, and excluding emergency departments, is: 

• Unvaccinated or not eligible: 109 cases or 19 per cent
  • Partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose: 21 cases or four per cent
  • Double vaccinated at least seven days before being reported as a case: 201 cases or 34 per cent 
  • Received booster at least seven days before being reported as a case: 218 cases or 37 per cent 
  • Unknown: 36 cases or 6 per cent 

Bloomfield said the international experience with Omicron showed cases were likely to remain in the low thousands in New Zealand for some time. 

He said 3000-5000 cases was the estimate for some weeks and potentially into winter. 

Hospitalisations are likely to remain steady and trend down in April. 

Bloomfield said, at the moment, total ICU and HDU beds were about 60 per cent occupied. 

Of around 300 beds, 25 had people with Covid in them. 

But these beds required staff to provide care. 

Across the Tasman, the number hospitalised never dropped below 950 in Queensland after their Omicron wave and was now back over 1000. 

In Victoria, it dropped to about 200 and has remained steady, despite surging cases. 

This meant results were varied but New Zealand could expect ongoing pressures on the health system. 

Globally, case numbers were increasing and it was likely there would be more waves and variants. 

This meant "we need to keep our wits about ourselves" as "Covid isn't done with the world yet". 

Other viruses such as flu could generate further demand through winter. 

The Government was looking at free influenza vaccines and advice on recommending a fourth Pfizer vaccine dose. 

A high vaccination rate continued to be the best tool to fight Covid. 

Ministry figures show, of the people aged 12 and older at Northland and Auckland hospitals whose vaccination status is recorded, 15 per cent have not had any doses of the vaccine. They are five times over-represented in hospitalisation figures. 

"There is no doubt vaccination saves lives," Bloomfield said. 

On a potential fourth shot, Bloomfield said he'd asked specifically for vulnerable populations, such as older populations and people with pre-existing conditions. 

He was also interested in an extra jab for health workers, heading into winter, given they had boosters back in December and effectiveness could be starting to wane. 

At this stage, officials were only looking at higher risk and vulnerable groups, he said. 

They were aiming to have these ready alongside flu vaccinations, heading into winter, in April and May. 

Today's data shows, to date, 96.3 per cent of those eligible have had one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Just over 95 per cent have had two doses and 72.8 per cent of those due their booster have had it. 

For Māori, aged 12 and older, 91.1 per cent have had one dose, 87.9 per cent have had two and 58.6 per cent of those eligible have been boosted. 

For Pacific peoples aged 12 and older, 98.1 per cent have had their first dose, 96.3 per cent have had two doses and 59.5 per cent have been boosted. 

Almost 54 per cent of eligible children, aged 5-11, have had their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine while 9.1 per cent have had two doses. 

For Māori children, aged 5-11, 34.6 per cent have had one dose and 4.3 per cent have had their second dose. 

For Pacific children in this age group, these figures are 46.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively. 

Bloomfield said we could be cautiously optimistic the peak had passed, but it was unclear how fast cases and hospitalisations would fall and we needed to "remain vigilant" ahead of winter and new variants. 

The Ministry of Health said case numbers had increased across most regions but this was not unexpected due to lower testing and reporting over weekends. 

Bourne said while we might be reaching a peak, general practices were seeing surging demand - a 15 per cent increase on last year. 

GP practices varied, and for example Taranaki and Canterbury were seeing increases of over 30 per cent. 

This was happening while workforces were hampered by infections and needing to isolate. 

Those vital services would remain open though. 

Speaking about home care, Bourne said there was lots of support services available, including for people who did not have anywhere to self-isolate. 

It was important people isolated the full seven days. 

Testing continued to play an important part of the country's response to Covid-19, the ministry said. 

If people were symptomatic, they were asked to stay home and get a test. 

For those who were not sure about whether they needed to be tested or not, they should contact their health professional or Health on 0800 358 5453 and follow advice. 

Those who test positive need to isolate for seven days. If they still had symptoms after seven days, they should stay home until they felt better and then wait another 24 hours, the ministry said. 

Household contacts should also stay at home, and have tests at day three and seven - or if they develop symptoms. 

People could return to work or school after their isolation period ends without another test, unless they worked in a high-risk workplace like a healthcare setting. 

As of Monday, the even-day rolling average of new community cases stood at 17,121 - down from a peak of 20,511. 

Nine new deaths were recorded on Monday, bringing the pandemic death toll to 184, and the 7-day rolling average of reported deaths to 10. 

Five of the deaths were in Auckland, with the remainder in Waikato, Wairarapa and the Bay of Plenty. 

One of the people to have died was in their 20s, while the others were in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. 

The Government will tomorrow unveil the next steps in the Covid response, with broad vaccine mandates and the use of vaccine passes likely to be relaxed. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she wanted the traffic light system to be "no more restrictive than it needs to be, so if there are areas we can pare it back, we will". 

National and Act have both been pushing the Government to go harder with loosening Covid restrictions. 

National last week called on the Government to immediately drop all scanning requirements for businesses and scrap vaccine passes for all but large indoor events. 

The party also wants to get rid of all vaccine mandates for young people aged under 18, and move to a five-day isolation period. 

Once the border reopens to Australians on April 13, National wants the traffic light system gone for good, and an end to pre-departure testing, along with the eventual phasing out of all vaccine mandates, with health workers to be phased out last. 

Act also wants the traffic light system gone, along with scanning and tracing, and vaccine requirements.