Record admissions to hospital and a near-record daily number of new Covid-19 cases show the pandemic is not done with Otago and Southland, health officials warn.
There were 40 people in hospital with Covid-19 in the South yesterday, and if there are more days with case numbers like the 1410 recorded yesterday it may mean the South being at the Orange setting will need to be reconsidered.
"It is a really good question and it is difficult to know the answer to that," Southern District Health Board head of Covid-19 response Dr Hywel Lloyd said.
"I think we need to have a few more days’ data, but if we don’t dip again as low as we expect then that would be a significant indicator that the traffic light system is part of the issue as well."
He was not surprised daily numbers had jumped back to 1400 as it was likely reporting during the holiday weekend had been low, but what was surprising was how long case numbers had been at a high level in the region, Dr Lloyd said.
"When you look at the rolling seven-day average of cases we are plateauing," he said.
"We have also seen this happening in Northland and we are putting it down to our rurality."
More remote areas tend to get Covid-19 later than populated areas, and case numbers have been steadily building in the provinces.
Central Otago recorded 123 new cases yesterday (554 active cases), Southland 108 (619), Clutha 96 (344), Waitaki 75 (307) and Gore 96 (344).
The 548 new cases in Dunedin (2491) was a daily record for the city.
Invercargill recorded 251 new cases (1407) and Queenstown-Lakes 166 (783).
The peak in daily case numbers in the SDHB region was 1631, on March 23.
Dr Lloyd said the increase in admissions to hospital was concerning, but the majority of them were people who had "incidental Covid" rather than being in hospital because of Covid-19.
There were 27 people in hospital in Dunedin, eight in Southland, three in Dunstan and two in Waitaki.
The 27 in Dunedin included 12 people in ward 9C at Wakari Hospital.
An SDHB spokeswoman said ward 9C had been identified during Covid-19 planning as where mental health patients who had tested positive for the disease would be treated.
"Due to the large number of people admitted who also have a Covid-19 infection, the decision was made to transition ward 9C into a red stream ward", which meant it was only for people with Covid-19.
"All those admitted to 9C have an incidental Covid-19 infection. If they were admitted because of Covid-19 they would have been transferred to ward 7A at Dunedin Hospital."
Some 9C patients had had to be transferred, but there was good bed capacity in mental health wards in Dunedin, she said.
Nationally, 11,217 new community cases of Covid-19 were reported yesterday and 12 new deaths, none of which were in the South.
