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There are 14,494 new community cases of Covid-19, and eight people have died – the highest daily toll in this country since the pandemic began, the Ministry of Health says. 

There are now 896 people in hospital, with 18 of them in intensive care. 

Six of the eight Covid-related deaths were in Auckland, one in Waikato, and one in Lakes. Two of those who died were men and six were women. Three were aged in their 60s, one in their 70s, one in their 80s and three in their 90s. 

That brings the total number of Covid-related deaths in the pandemic to 113. 

"At this sad time, our thoughts are with the whanau and friends of all those who have died," the Ministry said. 

"Out of respect for affected families, we will be making no further comment." 

Today's case numbers have continued to fall, with the biggest drop in Auckland. Reported case numbers fell steadily this week from just under 10,000 reported cases on March 8 to 4509 today. 

However, the Ministry said the seven-day rolling average is 19,771, which is only slightly down on yesterday. 

Outside Auckland, the new cases were in Northland (440), Waikato (1,420), Bay of Plenty (931), Lakes (394), Hawke's Bay (597), MidCentral (472), Whanganui (137), Taranaki (355), Tairāwhiti (289), Wairarapa (105), Capital and Coast (1,141), Hutt Valley (845), Nelson Marlborough (376), Canterbury (1,664), South Canterbury (93), Southern (703), and West Coast (18). The location of five cases was unknown. 

Twenty-two new cases were also found at the border. 

There are currently 197,251 active cases of Covid in the community – meaning cases identified in the past 10 days and not yet classified as recovered. 

The eight deaths come after the country yesterday ticked over the grim milestone of 100 deaths – with four men and three women having died with the virus on Saturday. 

It was the second day in a row of seven deaths. 

The ministry said it was another reminder that the Omicron variant could still cause serious illness or death – either directly, or by its impact on other health conditions. 

"Getting vaccinated and boosted will help to keep you out of hospital if you catch Covid-19 and could save your life." 

In total 105 people have now died with Covid in New Zealand since the start of the pandemic. 

And despite yesterday seeing a slight drop in cases – 18,699, down from 20,989 – the number of those in hospital is expected to rise, adding to the strain on the health system. 

On Saturday there were 853 people in hospital with the virus, with an average age of 59. Seventeen of those people were in intensive care. 

Auckland's case numbers appear to be plateauing, with 6077 cases yesterday. But outside the city numbers in other DHBs are expected to keep rising. Canterbury had more than 2000 new cases yesterday while Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Capital and Coast DHBs all clocked up more than 1000. 

Those numbers are also not thought to be entirely accurate, with experts last week fearing some people were not recording their Rapid Antigen Test results. 

Experts are also increasingly sounding the alarm about Long Covid – the catch-all term for a range of symptoms that can arise weeks or months after a person is infected with the virus. 

Those symptoms can affect even people whose original illness was mild. While it's too early to know whether Omicron's Long Covid tail will be similar to previous strains of the virus, medical experts say infections should not be treated as trivial. 

People should still avoid getting infected if possible and take time to recover if they do get sick.