New Zealand's 206 new daily community infections in the last 24 hours have carried it past the double-hundred mark for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, as the nation scrambles to vaccinate its population of five million, Reuters reports.

The most populous city of Auckland, which has reported 200 of the new cases, has lived under Covid-19 curbs for nearly three months as it battles an outbreak of the infectious Delta variant, although restrictions are expected to ease on Monday.

The cases serve to remind people of the importance of vaccination as the number one protection against the virus, the health ministry said in a statement. It said 78pc of New Zealanders aged 12 and above had been fully vaccinated, while 89% had a first dose by Friday.