There are 12,011 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today, with five further deaths.

Today's number is almost double the 6137 reported yesterday.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 8223 of the positive results came from Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs), while 3807 were PCR tests.

The Ministry said the further increase in cases today was not unexpected given the ongoing spread of Omicron and wider testing achieved from the combined use of RATs and PCR.

Auckland has most of the new cases, with 1565 positive PCR tests and 6403 positive RAT results.

But the rest of the cases remain spread around the country, with the areas that returned a positive PCR result including Northland (46), Waikato (388), Bay of Plenty (279), Lakes (23), Hawke's Bay (54), MidCentral (112), Whanganui (13), Taranaki (37), Tairāwhiti (34), Wairarapa (10), Capital and Coast (182), Hutt Valley (85), Nelson Marlborough (79), Canterbury (355), South Canterbury (13), Southern (524) and West Coast (6).

The locations of the new community cases detected through RATs were: Northland (87), Waikato (544), Bay of Plenty (338), Lakes (140), Hawke's Bay (40), MidCentral (41), Whanganui (5), Taranaki (11), Tairāwhiti (18), Wairarapa (4), Capital and Coast (77), Hutt Valley (20), Nelson Marlborough (23), Canterbury (114), South Canterbury (5), Southern (343) and West Coast (3).

The Ministry said the case numbers and number of people in hospital were another reminder that vaccination is the best defence against the virus. There were 25,461 booster doses given yesterday, as well as 523 first doses, 1101 second doses, 179 third primary doses, 1657 paediatric first doses and 178 paediatric second doses.

The five deaths reported today are the most ever recorded in a single day in New Zealand. There were four deaths at one point in the outbreak in April 2020.

There have now been 61 deaths of people with Covid-19 in New Zealand.

The deaths of the five patients with Covid-19 include two who were cared for in North Shore Hospital, two in Waikato, and one in Tauranga.

There are currently 237 people in hospital with the the coronavirus, including three in intensive care. There are 83 patients at Middlemore with Covid-19 and 85 in Auckland Hospital, with the rest in Northland, North Shore, Tauranga, Hawke's Bay, Capital and Coast, Hutt Valley, Canterbury and Southern hospitals.

On Thursday, the daily number of community cases soared past the 6000 mark, with a record 6137 new cases. It was first time rapid antigen test results were included included in the daily numbers.

There were also 19 cases at the border reported today.

There have now been 39,413 cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand since the pandemic began.