There are 1,901 new Covid-19 cases in the community today as Omicron continues its surge. 

The number is a slight drop on yesterday's record 1929 community cases, according to the latest Ministry of Health release. 

There are 76 people in hospital around the country and no one in ICU or HDU. 

The national case numbers in the Omicron outbreak have almost doubled since Wednesday, when 1160 community cases were registered. 

The majority of Friday's community cases were in the Auckland region which registered 1384 new cases. 

But while 73 people were in hospital with the virus yesterday across the country, there was only one person in ICU. 

As the Omicron outbreak continues to grow in scale, Aucklanders are being warned they could wait up to five days to get their Covid test results back. 

The news has sparked concern over how long people will need to isolate even if they don't have the virus. 

Health teams say the delays are due to a large increase in demand from people going to get tested with 32,984 tests completed in the 24 hours up to yesterday. 

There were 9874 active community cases in the country as of yesterday. 

Health teams asked those being tested to expect the delays and to not call Healthline or laboratories to check up on their delayed test results. 

"There is still high demand at community testing centres in Auckland as case numbers rise, and we do understand some people are anxious at this time," Matt Hannant, director of operations at the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre, said. 

"However, this is putting significant pressure on laboratories and means that while some results are being returned within 48 hours, an increasing number are taking up to five days. 
That means people could be isolating at home for up to five days even if they return a negative result. 

The Ministry of Health has echoed the request for Aucklanders not to call Healthline for results as the service is not able to provide that information. 

"We are continuing to experience high demand at Covid-19 testing sites, including from asymptomatic people who are seeking tests for their own reassurance," the ministry said. 

"It's very important that you only get tested if you have cold or flu symptoms, have been identified as a close contact of a case, or have been asked to get tested by a health official. 

"Unnecessary testing is resulting in long waits at testing centres and could also delay results for those who urgently need them."