Covid cases and hospital admissions have both now passed their peak, the Ministry of Health believes.
Yesterday it reported a further 4489 new community cases of the pandemic disease, a figure which made the rolling seven-day average of cases 3975 — a week ago it was 4938.
Hospital admissions are similarly subsiding from the service-straining levels experienced in recent weeks.
Yesterday there were 496 New Zealanders in hospital who had Covid-19, which added up to a seven-day rolling average of 541; a week ago it was 630.
"We passed a peak in cases earlier that the modelling suggested and now hospitalisations are also declining suggesting these too have peaked," public health agency lead Dr Andrew Old said.
"It was sitting somewhere between 800 and 850 occupied beds across the country in late July."
Despite worrying early signs, New Zealand’s case numbers had tracked at the lower end of what modelling had suggested might be the impact of the second wave of cases of the Omicron variant, Dr Old said.
Health services had been stretched by that wave of disease coinciding with advent of seasonal winter illnesses, but the dedication of clinicians and the willingness of many New Zealanders to adopt recommended public health measures meant the country had got past the peak, he said.
There were 270 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Otago and Southland yesterday.
The ministry reported that 16 more people who had had Covid-19 had died, two of whom were from Southern.
