The number of southerners in hospital with Covid-19 has doubled in the past week.
Thirty-two people were in hospital with the disease yesterday.
A week ago, on June 15, that total of those in hospital with Covid was half that at 16.
The spike in cases comes following the 8MED ward in Dunedin Hospital having to be closed to visitors after a sequence of Covid infections were reported by both patients and staff.
Dunedin Hospital was caring for 26 people who had Covid-19 last night, while Southland Hospital had six patients with the viral disease.
The Southern District Health Board had been considering reopening 8MED to visitors, but it was unclear last night whether that would be possible given the recent surge in cases.
Board chief operating officer Hamish Brown said Covid wards at both hospitals had high occupancy, but surgeons had been able to do some planned care at each site.
"Emergency departments are busy and there are delays accessing beds," he said.
"There are still high rates of sickness in staff or their whanau from Covid and influenza."
Yesterday the Ministry of Health reported 5630 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, 493 of which were in the South.
A week ago the ministry reported 551 new cases in the South.
It also reported 17 new deaths of people who had Covid-19, some of which dated back as early as March and April.
One of those deaths was in the southern region.
Te Kaika has announced its Covid-19 testing and vaccination sites will close.
Rapid antigen testing (Rat) at home has mostly superseded PCR testing at clinics.
The Te Kaika Queenstown clinic will close tomorrow, while the Dunedin and Oamaru clinics will close on Sunday.
