Surge in Covid case numbers; young person among 16 deaths

A surge in the number of new community Covid-19 cases today is not unusual, as the rise comes after a long weekend, the Ministry of Health says.

There are 8028 new community cases of the virus today, and 16 more people have died with the disease.

There are 383 people in hospital with Covid, including seven in ICU.

Yesterday the ministry reported 5549 new cases.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 5480 – last Tuesday it was 4878.

The ministry said the increase in case numbers today "is not unusual after a long weekend. It will take more time before we are able to determine if this is part of a trend."

There are 733 new cases in the southern area today, up from 434 yesterday, and 23 people in hospital with the virus in the South, which is the same number as yesterday.

Covid deaths

The ministry said all 16 deaths reported today occurred within the past seven days.

They take the total number of publicly reported deaths to 1488, and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 12. 

One of the deaths was in the Southern DHB area. Of the others, four were in the Auckland region, two were in Waikato, two were in Hawke’s Bay, one was in MidCentral, two were in Taranaki, one was in Wairarapa, one in Wellington, and two were in Canterbury.

One person was aged between 10 and 19, three were in their 70s, six were in their 80s and six were over 90. Eleven were male and five were female.

Location of new community cases: Northland (169), Auckland (2,584), Waikato (465), Bay of Plenty (274), Lakes (111), Hawke’s Bay (257), MidCentral (217), Whanganui (76), Taranaki (251), Tairāwhiti (87), Wairarapa (88), Capital and Coast (744), Hutt Valley (301), Nelson Marlborough (281), Canterbury (1,225), South Canterbury (107), Southern (733), West Coast (55), Unknown (3).

Number of new imported cases: 94.

Cases in hospital: Northland: 4; Waitematā: 71; Counties Manukau: 43; Auckland: 56; Waikato: 33; Bay of Plenty: 5; Lakes: 19; Tairāwhiti: 1; Hawke’s Bay: 9; Taranaki: 10; Whanganui: 3; MidCentral: 15; Wairarapa: 9; Hutt Valley: 13; Capital and Coast: 20; Nelson Marlborough: 13; Canterbury: 32; South Canterbury: 4; West Coast: 0; Southern: 23.

Average age of current hospitalisations: 63.

 - ODT Online