There are 126 new community Covid-19 cases today as Cabinet prepares to meet to discuss the reopening of NZ's borders. 

Seventy-nine cases were detected at the border, the Ministry of Health said in its 1pm update statement. 

Today's new community cases are in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Lakes, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Nelson Marlborough, and Canterbury. 

As the Omicron variant has now become the "dominant" strain, the Ministry of Health says it will no longer be publicly advising the case variant in its updates. 

Cases were also announced by health authorities in Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, and Canterbury but had missed the ministry's daily cut-off period for reporting. 

Eight people are in hospital with the virus - five in Middlemore, and one each in North Shore, Auckland and Waikato hospitals. No one is in ICU or HDU. 

It comes amid confirmation there are three Omicron infections in Hāwera, according to Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. 

Meanwhile, thousands of students around the country are heading back to school this week and two south Auckland schools have been impacted by Covid infections in teaching staff. 

In Queenstown today, National leader Christopher Luxon said he wants to get enough free rapid antigen tests into schools so that they can conduct twice-weekly surveillance testing for all students, teachers and staff. 

With a national school roll of just over 800,000, this means 1.2 million tests would be needed. 

A surge in Omicron cases is expected this week. 

Yesterday there were 91 new cases in the community and 39 cases of Covid-19 were detected at the border. 

Ten people were in hospital with the virus - the average age of patients is 54. 

There were no cases in ICU or HDU. 

Te Pūnaha Matatini modeller Dr Dion O'Neale said yesterday that daily cases could jump to 200 by the middle of the week, then double to 400 by the weekend. 

"Almost every other place in the world that's had an Omicron outbreak's seen a doubling time of around three days. We'd expect New Zealand to be similar." 

Meanwhile, Jacinda Ardern received a negative Covid-19 test result yesterday. 

Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro also returned a negative test. 

Ardern and Dame Cindy were forced to isolate on Saturday after a flight attendant on their flight from Kerikeri to Auckland tested positive for Omicron. 

This came as a flurry of new locations of interest were added to the list yesterday. 

A total of 24 sites connected to people with Covid-19 were posted throughout the day and included cafes, fast food restaurants, airport terminals and food outlets within some of those airport terminals. 

With this, members of the public are being urged to continue to check the Ministry of Health's locations page. 

Last night's update included Subway at the Auckland Domestic Airport and Kerikeri Airport, while this morning an Auckland wine bar and bistro became the latest high-risk exposure site to be added to the growing list. 

The Ministry of Health is urging those who are eligible to get their boosters. 

"With Omicron in New Zealand, the best thing you can do is get your booster as soon as it is due. 

"Boosters lower your chances of getting very sick and being hospitalised. Being boosted also helps slow the spread of the virus," the ministry said. 

As of yesterday, 1,300,364 people had received their booster dose.