There are 18,833 community cases of Covid-19 in the community today - a decrease in daily cases from recent days where we reported cases above 20,000. 

There are 10 people in ICU. 

Five deaths and 22,535 cases were registered yesterday. 

Three per cent of New Zealand's population are currently active cases, of which there were 152,358 as of yesterday. 

For several days New Zealand has registered more than 20,000 daily community cases; the seven-day rolling average is 16,163 cases. 

The rising numbers come as northern region doctors pleaded with people who were able to manage their cold and flu symptoms at home to do so, leaving stretched hospitals and GPs for people who need them most. 

Auckland had the majority of yesterday's cases: 13,252. 

All of yesterday's five deaths had unrelated conditions. 

Two patients died at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland. The other deaths occurred at Tauranga and Waikato Hospitals and in Dunedin. 

That brings to 67 the number of people who have died with Covid since the outbreak started in 2020. 

Epidemiologist Dr Rod Jackson told the Herald this week he cringes when he sees daily cases hovering at around 23,000, as some modelling shows they could be four times that number, and therefore closer to 100,000. 

Jackson said most cases of Omicron so far were in younger people who were less likely to get really sick and die, but the crunch would come when more elderly people get Omicron. 

"It is going to be difficult to stop it spreading and once it takes hold in older age groups, sadly, we are going to see more severe disease and more deaths," he said. 

More than 130,000 orders were placed through RAT requester site for free rapid antigen tests on Thursday. This covered more than half a million people, or about 2 million tests, the Ministry of Health said in a statement yesterday. 

Over the weekend, another 8 million RATs are expected to arrive in the country. 

Another 99 million are confirmed for delivery this month.