Active cases of Covid-19 in the South have dipped just below 5000, having almost reached 6000 a week ago.
The latest regional breakdown of pandemic cases, released by Te Whatu Ora Southern yesterday, confirmed a trend showing up in overall daily cases which suggests that the current Omicron outbreak may have peaked in the region.
However, Otago and Southland still have a higher rate of Covid-19 than anywhere else in New Zealand — apart from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Yesterday New Zealand reported 9256 new community cases of Covid-19, 767 of which were notified by people in Otago and Southland.
Over the past week, 38 deaths of people who had Covid-19 were reported.
Eight of these deaths were recorded in the South.
Two people who had Covid-19 were in intensive care in Dunedin Hospital and one patient was receiving ventilation.
There were 49 people in hospital yesterday who had Covid-19: 24 were in Dunedin, 16 in Southland, seven in Dunstan and one apiece in Oamaru and Maniototo.
Active cases dropped everywhere in Otago and Southland in the past five days except for Invercargill, where they rose from 745 to 805.
Dunedin recorded 2237 cases (down from 2666) and Queenstown Lakes 667 (down from 751).
