There are 15,918 new cases today, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced this afternoon. 

There are 817 people in hospital with the virus, including 24 in intensive care. 

The Ministry of Health reported a further 14 Covid-related deaths. 

The deaths reported today included people who had died over the past six days but their deaths were only recently notified to the Ministry of Health. 

The ministry said delays in reporting could be associated with people dying with - rather than of - Covid-19, and the virus being discovered only after they had died. 

The seven-day rolling average of cases is 14,969 cases. 

Hipkins said there will continue to be spikes in coming weeks, which is not unexpected. 

"The overall trend is heading in a downward direction." 

Today's reported deaths take the total number of Covid-related deaths to 317. 

The seven day rolling average of reported deaths is 15. 

Of the people whose deaths were reported today, four were from the Auckland region, four from Waikato, one from the Lakes DHB, one from the Wellington region, one from Nelson Marlborough, one from Canterbury, one from South Canterbury and one person was from the Southern region. 

Five of these people were aged in their 70s, six were in their 80s and three were in their 90s. 

"Our thoughts and condolences are with their whānau and friends at this sad time," the ministry said in its 1pm statement. 

On RATs 

Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said more than 95 per cent of people can access rapid antigen tests within a 20 minute drive, but a new initiative aimed at improving access to 250,000 people in rural areas. 

"DHBs already have initiatives underway to reach their rural communities. The service launched this week aims to connect households up with those initiatives." 

"Everyone should be able to access a RAT," Hipkins said. 

Asked why the rural initiative was being rolled out now and not before the Omicron peak, Hipkins said the work in the beginning was to get RATs accessible as widely as possible before focusing on "smaller areas". 

Hipkins said he was yet to have "a firm leaning" for Monday's review of traffic light settings. 

"We'll be following closely the public health advice we get over the weekend." 

The main difference between red and orange was the size of indoor gatherings. There is no limit under orange. 

"The main thing we're all looking for is where we're at in terms of the overall peak." 

Deadly day 

It comes after the darkest day of the pandemic so far yesterday, when a record 34 deaths were reported, and a top Covid-19 modeller warns we could have 10 to 12 deaths a day for weeks to come. 

It comes after the darkest day of the pandemic so far yesterday, when a record 34 deaths were reported, and a top Covid-19 modeller warns we could have 10 to 12 deaths a day for weeks to come. 

Epidemic modeller Professor Michael Plank told TVNZ's Breakfast this morning experts have been surprised about how the Covid Omicron variant wave has behaved in different regions, in terms of timing, particularly in Auckland and Canterbury. 

Yesterday's 17,148 Covid community cases continued a decline for the seven-day rolling average to 15,565, compared with 17,020 last Tuesday. 

Yesterday, 842 people were in hospital across the country and 26 in ICU - both rates that remained relatively steady as hospitalisations lagged behind case numbers. 

The reduction in case numbers was most pronounced in Auckland. More than 4000 cases were reported there last Monday and about 2300 yesterday. 

Canterbury and South Canterbury combined had a higher average than Auckland, and it had increased since last week. 

Plank said the Auckland-Canterbury comparison is that they are quite different stages of the outbreak. 

Auckland had a very high peak around about three weeks ago. Those numbers had come down a lot now, he told TVNZ's Breakfast. 

It looked like Covid cases in Canterbury had also peaked, he said. 

On deaths, Plank said the way a Covid death is defined is a death within 28 days of a positive test result. 

"You've got that four-week period after a positive test when...those deaths are going to still be happening," he said. 

Plank noted there was also a lag from cases to hospitalisations and those hospitalisations that led to death. 

"Unfortunately, we will continue to see deaths - probably around the current rate, sort of around about 10 or 12 a day a day for the next few weeks - before it, hopefully, starts to taper off." 

On vaccinations, Plank said those with the booster shot helped hugely to protect people from becoming severely ill, if they contracted Covid-19. 

University of Otago epidemiologist professor Michael Baker said New Zealand's daily Covid-related deaths per million over a seven-day rolling average were now higher than in the US, which was about a month out from its Omicron peak. 

"At the moment, New Zealand's mortality is moving into the middle or upper range for a high-income country with the exception of Hong Kong, which is extremely high. 

"For the first time now, our daily mortality rate has passed the United States. We won't be in that range for very long, maybe a week or two. It's still a shock for us." 

On March 27, the US' daily mortality rate was 2.3 and New Zealand's was 1.9. 

Taking into account yesterday's moving average of 15 deaths, Baker said New Zealand's rate had passed that of the US and now sat at 2.9. 

The US mortality rate with Omicron peaked around the first week of February this year at close to 8 deaths per million. 

Its highest mortality rate in the pandemic overall was in January 2021 when it was over 10 deaths per million with the first variant, and before the vaccine rollout had ramped up.