186 new Bay cases

Hawke’s Bay had 186 new Covid cases yesterday, with 14 in hospital. Nationally, there were 6407 new community cases. The Ministry of Health reported a further two Covid-related deaths, with 368 people in hospital with the virus, including 18 in intensive care. Two more people who travelled from overseas to New Zealand have been confirmed as having the BA.5 variant of Omicron, says the ministry. There are now three people with the sub-variant.