Health director-general Dr Ashley Bloomfield has reported 15,250 new community cases of Covid-19 today.
The Ministry of Health says, in its usual 1pm statement, that it's encouraging to see case numbers continuing to decline, and supports the movements being seen across the seven-day-rolling-average, which is now at 14,515, compared with last Wednesday's 16,949.
"Sadly, we are also reporting 22 people who have died with Covid-19 and that takes the total number of publicly reported deaths to 338, and the seven-day-rolling average to 17,” Dr Bloomfield says.
The deaths reported today include those who have died over the past four weeks but were only recently notified to the ministry.
Of the deaths, one was from Northland, 10 from Auckland, one from Waikato, two each from the Bay of Plenty, Lakes and Wellington regions, and four from Canterbury. Two people were in their 50s, four in their 60s, three in their 70s, six in their 80s and seven were over 90 years of age. Fifteen were female and seven were male.
Dr Bloomfield says that different patterns in peaks are being seen in the regions compared to the main metropolitan centres like Auckland, Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley.
Different pattern in rural areas
“We're seeing a different pattern out in the regions where the outbreak develops more slowly and there is a more sustained peak. Good examples of this are in the Waikato and also our Southern district health board which covers not just Dunedin but also the Otago and Southland areas.
“Interestingly too, we've seen a pattern of generally lower hospitalisation rates out and in the regions. So if I take Tai Rāwhiti, for example, over the past two weeks it’s had the highest case rate in the country but has only ever had just a handful of hospitalisations, and just one or two a day in the past day or two days or so.”
Of today’s new cases, there are 662 in Northland, 2708 in Auckland, 1352 in Waikato, 825 in Bay of Plenty, 348 in Lakes, 917 in Hawke's Bay, 812 in Mid Central, 360 in Whanganui, 608 in Taranaki, 201 in Tai Rā Whiti, 146 in Wairarapa, 1009 in Capital and Coast, 587 in Hutt Valley, 729 in Nelson-Marlborough, 2379 in Canterbury, 305 in South Canterbury, 1212 in Southern and 77 in West Coast DHBs. Just 13 cases are of unknown locations.
The total of those receiving hospital-level care with Covid-19 is now at 830. Of these, 38 are in Northland, 128 in North Shore, 163 in Middlemore, 142 in Auckland, 89 in Waikato, 23 in Bay of Plenty, 17 in Lakes, three in Tairāwhiti, 31 in Hawke's Bay, 19 in Taranaki, six in Whanganui, 23 in Mid Central, 19 in Hutt Valley, 22 in Capital & Coast, two in Wairarapa, 15 in Nelson-Marlborough, 54 in Canterbury, seven in South Canterbury, one in West Coast and 28 in Southern hospitals. Some 24 people are in intensive care units.
There were also 133 first doses, 213 second doses, 34 third primary doses, 2,123 booster doses, 146 paediatric first doses and 2,437 paediatric second doses administered across the country yesterday.