Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed the isolation period for a positive case and their household contacts will be reduced.
At the 1pm standup today, Hipkins announced that 10 days of isolation will be reduced down to seven from 11:59pm this Friday.
"This gives us a bit of time to make the operational changes required for that, and that includes reducing the time arrivals, who are otherwise uneligible to come straight into the community, will need to stay in a managed isolation and quarantine facility, to match the period for domestic cases and contacts," says Hipkins.
"If a person who is isolating at home is still showing symptoms at the end of their seven-day isolation, they're advised to stay at home until 24 hours after they have stopped showing symptoms."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is also reporting 22,454 new community cases today. 8,529 of these are in the Auckland region, which is 56% of the total new cases, down from 61% of total new cases a week ago.
The ministry says the number is still high, but numbers have levelled off there in the last week, and more will be known in the next few days if this signals that the outbreak has peaked in the region.
There are four deaths being reported today. Of these, two people passed away in Lakes, one in Tairāwhiti and the other in Counties Manukau DHBs. No further comment will be made out of respect.
RATs continue to be used to confirm cases, with 21,896 positive results from RATs and just 558 PCR tests confirming cases as well.
Of the new cases minus the aforementioned new Auckland cases, there are 716 in Northland, 2,109 in Waikato, 1,427 in Bay of Plenty, 633 in Lakes, 707 in Hawke's Bay, 655 in Mid Central, 202 in Whanganui, 536 in Taranaki, 373 in Tairāhwiti, 166 in Wairarapa, 1,879 in Capital and Coast, 1,062 in Hutt Valley, 452 in Nelson-Marlborough, 2,024 in Canterbury, 120 in South Canterbury, 835 in Southern and 20 in West Coast. Some nine cases are of unknown location.
Hospitalisations are down from yesterday's total of 757 to 742 today, 507 of which are in the Auckland region. Elsewhere, there are 67 in Waikato, 26 in Bay of Plenty, seven in Rotorua, three in Tairāhwiti, 17 in Hawke's Bay, five in Taranaki, 18 in Mid Central, two in Whanganui, eight in Wairarapa, 12 in Hutt Valley, 38 in Capital and Coast, three in Nelson-Marlborough, 18 in Canterbury, two in Tīmaru and nine in Southern hospitals. The total of people in ICU is now at 19.
There were also 231 first doses 987 second doses 68 third primary doses 9,226 booster doses 628 paediatric first doses and 245 paediatric second doses administered yesterday.