Covid-19: Case numbers continue to fall, 59 more deaths

There have been 12,028 new Covid-19 cases reported in New Zealand over the past week.

The numbers cover Monday, May 29 to Sunday, June 4. Case numbers continue to fall, with 2343 fewer cases recorded than the week before.

As at midnight Monday there were 278 people in hospital with the virus.

Nine people were in an intensive care unit as at midnight Monday.

Fifty-nine more people with the virus have died, with the Ministry of Health explaining there was a higher than usual number of deaths reported "due to a backlog of deaths being coded".

The ministry said two died in June, 13 in May, seven in April, three in March and three in January. The remainder of the deaths occurred in 2022.

The total number of deaths confirmed as attributable to Covid-19, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor, is 3001.