WELLINGTON (XINHUA) - New Zealand recorded 7,423 community cases of Covid-19 and 19 more deaths during the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday (June 30).

In addition, 206 new cases of Covid-19 were detected at the New Zealand border.

Currently, 411 patients are being treated in hospitals due to Covid-19, including six in intensive care units or high dependency units.

New Zealand has reported 1,338,501 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020.

The government is taking action to help reduce the spread of Covid-19 in schools and early childhood services, said Covid-19 Response Minster Ayesha Verrall.

New Zealand will remain at the "orange traffic light" setting, with cases and hospitalisations remaining much lower than the peaks experienced earlier in the year.

New Zealand has a "traffic light" system of green, orange and red which sets out rules relating to containing the spread of Covid-19, with red being the strictest.

But with hospitals under pressure from flu and Covid-19 and numbers starting to creep up again, a suite of additional measures are being put in place to help reduce the spread, such as free flu vaccine made available to all children aged three to 12 years old.