The Director-general of health says we need to "keep our wits about us" as Covid-19 sub-variants spread overseas and there's always a chance of a more severe variant than Omicron emerging in New Zealand.
One in 20 people reporting to hospital has Covid and there has been a "significant increase" in cases in the community due to the BA.5 variant, Dr Ashley Bloomfield says.
There are 10,772 new Covid cases in the community to report today, 21 more deaths and 788 people in hospital.
In the Southern DHB area, there are 917 new cases of the virus and four new deaths to report today.
"At this stage we are expecting an increase in cases and hospitalisations," Bloomfield said at this afternoon's Covid update.
"Our case rates and wastewater results do show that the cases are increasing across all regions around New Zealand," Bloomfield said.
"Our hospitalisation rate for the week to 17 July increased by 28 percent, so that's quite a significant increase."
He said from public surveillance testing, including wastewater results, it was estimated that half of all positive Covid cases were going unreported.
Bloomfield said while the initial Omicron outbreak was largely focused around younger age groups, rates are now higher in older people - particularly those aged over 65.
Two community cases of the BA.2.75 subvariant have been found in Auckland - the first community cases of the sub-variant - but both are linked to known cases at the border and are isolating at home. This adds to the previous six cases of the subvariant found at the border.
"At this stage we don't see anything which would indicate the need to change our public health settings, that's the conclusion other countries are drawing as well around BA.2.75."
Bloomfield said some there are characteristics which enable it to evade immunity but there's no current evidence it leads to more severe disease.
The burden on the health system was not unexpected but has appeared earlier in the winter season compared to previous years, particularly with the early flu peak.
"I can assure you ... that all parts of the system are working together on a daily basis to make sure that we respond to those pressures and the public can be confident that if they or their loved ones need urgent, hospital-level care, they will receive it and it will be delivered professionally."
'There is still a global pandemic'
With Covid cases expected to rise in coming weeks, Bloomfield called on people to take simple steps to protect themselves - get vaccinated including booster shots, wear masks and stay home if unwell.
Bloomfield encouraged those who were organising events to think carefully about the measures they could put in place to protect people, and advised people not to attend if they were sick.
He also strongly recommended schools introduce mask wearing for the first four weeks of the new term.
We need to "keep our wits about us" as sub variants spread overseas, he warned, as there was always a chance of a more severe variant of Covid emerging in New Zealand.
"There is still a global pandemic; it's not what's just happening in New Zealand, it's about what's happening globally.
"We're not out of the woods yet."
Bloomfield said around 72 percent of people have had the first booster shot, and so far the uptake of the second booster had been good. About 30 percent of those eligible have already had it.
Bloomfield finishes in his role next week and said he was looking forward to a "good break". His own leaving event tonight had been pared back due to the current outbreak.
Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall announced last week that free masks and rapid antigen tests would be provided to all those who needed them in a bid to increase testing numbers and try to get people wearing masks at the orange setting.
This morning the Green Party announced it was scrapping its annual conference in Christchurch this weekend and would instead hold it online, saying it was in response to the Covid surge and concerns people would get infected at the conference.
Meningococcal cases
There have also been 22 meningococcal cases recorded, but at this stage, there is not an outbreak of the disease.
However, Bloomfield warned that the disease is severe and can lead to death.
Change in how deaths reported
Public Health deputy director-general Dr Andrew Old said the agency will now report Covid deaths as people who died because of the virus or as a contributor.
Until now, all deaths where someone has died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 result are reported, as had been done by other countries.
This updated approach would come into effect on the Ministry of Health's website from Friday and would be how the figures are reported to the World Health Organisation.
"While we continue to report additional deaths with Covid-19 in the daily updates, the focus on reporting total Covid-19 deaths will shift to cases where Covid-19 is either the underlying or a contributing cause of a death," the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
"These are the deaths that can be wholly or partly ‘attributed’ to Covid-19. This a more meaningful measure in understanding the burden of severe disease from Covid-19.
"Over time, this will also allow us to provide more demographic information about people who have died from Covid-19, such as age, ethnicity, and vaccination status."
As of yesterday, there had been 1784 deaths overall – 772 were due to Covid-19 and Covid was considered a contributing factor in a further 414. A total of 345 were not related to Covid and 286 deaths were yet to be classified.
Dr Old said the actual number of deaths using the new formula was 1252 cases where Covid-19 was the underlying or contributing factor to their death.
The ministry is also now reporting an additional 69 deaths within 28 days of having the virus.
These were cases that had Covid-19 but were not reported as deaths initially. All of the deaths have occurred since March 23.
- NZ Herald, ODT Online and RNZ
