Friday February 25
There are 12,011 new cases of Covid-19 today.
New Zealand is now in phase three of the Omicron plan, you can read about what that means here.
The Ministry of Health is now breaking down the location of cases separated by whether they were found through a PCR test or a RAT test.
Of today's PCR cases: 46 are in Northland, 1,565 in Auckland, 388 are in Waikato, 279 in Bay of Plenty, 23 in Lakes District, 54 in Hawke’s Bay, 112 in MidCentral, 13 in Whanganui, 37 in Taranaki, 34 in Tairāwhiti, 10 in Wairarapa, 182 in Capital and Coast, 85 in Hutt Valley, 79 in Nelson Marlborough, 355 in Canterbury, 13 in South Canterbury, 6 in West Coast, 524 in Southern and 1 in an unknown location.
Of today's RAT cases: 87 are in Northland, 6,403 in Auckland, 544 are in Waikato, 338 in Bay of Plenty, 140 in Lakes District, 40 in Hawke’s Bay, 41 in MidCentral, 5 in Whanganui, 11 in Taranaki, 18 in Tairāwhiti, 4 in Wairarapa, 77 in Capital and Coast, 20 in Hutt Valley, 23 in Nelson Marlborough, 114 in Canterbury, 5 in South Canterbury, 3 in West Coast, 343 in Southern and 7 in unknown locations.
We have added the PCR and RAT cases together for each location in our map.
(Note: The Ministry of Health is reporting the total case number as 12,011. But when all the cases by region are added together the total comes to 12,029. We are reporting the numbers as they were given.)
Hospitalisations
There are 237 people in hospital, with 3 of those people in intensive care or high dependency units.
The average age of people currently in hospital is 52.
There are sadly five Covid-19-related deaths to report today. Of these patients, two were cared for in North Shore, two in Waikato, and one in Tauranga.
The Ministry has shared condolences with the families affected and has made no further comment.
96.5 percent of New Zealand's eligible population have had the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and 95 percent have had a second dose.
68.8 percent of those eligible have had a booster shot.
Click here for a list of updated locations of interest.
Preparing schools and kura for Omicron
Today, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced new measures the government is taking to prepare schools and kura for an Omicron outbreak. This includes supplying medical-grade masks for all teachers, with a limited supply for students.
The Ministry is also putting a process in place for schools and kura to access RATs as needed.
More stories:
Aotearoa to move to phase three of Omicron plan
Immunocompromised people 'swept under the rug' and feeling isolated
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