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There have been 42,740 new cases of Covid-19 and 64 deaths of people with the virus over the past week, the Ministry of Health has announced.
There were also a total of 581 people in hospital with the virus, including 15 in ICU.
Of the 64 people whose deaths were reporting today, three were from Northland, 19 were from the Auckland region, seven were from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, four were from Lakes, four were from Hawke's Bay, one was from Taranaki, five were from MidCentral, three were from Whanganui, two were from Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, 10 were from Canterbury and three were from Southern.
One was in their 30s, two were in their 40s, one was in their 50s, five were in their 60s, 12 were in their 70s, 28 were in their 80s and 15 were aged over 90. Of these people, 33 were women and 30 were men.
Today's update comes as co-lead of the Network Contagion Modelling programme at Auckland University, Dion O'Neale, said many people who had "worked hard to avoid the virus" were now getting infected.
O'Neal said it was possible one in 20 people could have Covid-19 in the week of Christmas.
Health officials are also concerned a wave of Covid-19 during the holiday period could severely impact on already stretched staffing numbers in hospitals across the country.
