There are 24 further deaths of people with Covid-19 and 7050 new community cases recorded by the Ministry of Health today.
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In a statement, the ministry reported there were also 361 hospitalisations, with 14 in ICU.
Of the 24 deaths reported today, two were from Northland, six were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Lakes DHB area, one from Taranaki, one from Hawke's Bay; one from MidCentral, one from the Wellington region, three from Canterbury and five from Southern.
Three people were in their 50s, two in their 60s, five in 70s, seven in their 80s and seven were aged over 90.
That takes the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1267 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 12, the ministry said.
The new community cases being reported today were in Northland (209), Auckland (1,962), Waikato (508), Bay of Plenty (271), Lakes (116), Hawke's Bay (201), MidCentral (314), Whanganui (106), Taranaki (204), Tairāwhiti (30), Wairarapa (64), Capital and Coast (620), Hutt Valley (325), Nelson Marlborough (280), Canterbury (1,075), South Canterbury (93), Southern (587), West Coast (82) and the location of three were unknown.
That brings the seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today to 6035 - last Wednesday, it was 6893.
There were also 70 new cases at the border today.
Meanwhile, a surge in Covid-19 and winter illnesses is behind staff absences going "through the roof" at some Christchurch and Auckland schools, forcing principals to roster particular year levels home or asking families to keep children away.
Looking back at the first Covid lockdown, an international study has found links with worsening mental health for people with mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar.
The study questioned 997 people, with just over half of them in New Zealand, and found 40 percent reported moderate to severe depression during the lockdown in 2020.
