Southern Covid-19 case numbers are continuing to fall, down almost 200 yesterday from the same time a week ago.
However, the number of people with Covid-19 in hospital in the South remains stubbornly high, and 52 people were in wards across the district yesterday.
There were 579 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Otago and Southland yesterday. A week ago there were 770 new cases.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases yesterday was 615. The previous week it was 803.
However, Institute of Environmental Science and Research wastewater testing results for the region suggested case numbers were being highly under-reported in Dunedin (Tahuna testing point), Balclutha, Invercargill and Alexandra.
Dunstan Hospital, in Clyde, has had a major surge in the number of people being treated there who are Covid-positive; yesterday four of the 52 people in hospital in the South with Covid-19 were in Dunstan Hospital. That was down from seven earlier in the week.
Central Otago Health Services Ltd chief executive Kathryn de Luc said the hospital, which has a 24-acute-bed inpatient ward and a three-bed high dependency unit, was under strain but coping with the additional demands of the pandemic.
"Like everyone, we have high case levels and are having to manage staff sickness levels," she said.
"We are managing. It’s tight, but we are coping at this point."
Hospital staff had gone the extra mile to cover for colleagues who had become ill, Dr de Luc said.
"We have also increased PPE use and isolation and other precautions like that, as well as restricting visiting for Covid-positive patients to being on compassionate grounds."
Dunstan could transfer serious cases to Dunedin Hospital but had treated less serious Covid-19 patients in its wards, Dr de Luc said.
"Since March we have had something like 120 Covid cases through Dunstan," she said.
When there was a spike in cases in the community, hospital cases would spike about a week later.
Of the Covid-19 hospital cases in the South yesterday,
15 were in Southland, four in Dunstan, two in Oamaru and one in Maniototo. The rest were in Dunedin, two of whom were in intensive care.
There were 4298 active cases in the South yesterday, down from 4956 earlier this week.
Active cases in Dunedin had dropped below 2000, to 1917. Invercargill had 805 active cases, Queenstown Lakes 667 and Central Otago 389.
Nationally, the Ministry of Health reported 7918 new community cases of Covid-19, as well as 24 deaths attributed to the pandemic disease and 17 other deaths of people who had Covid-19.
Of those, three were in Southern. The number of people in Otago and Southland whose deaths have been attributed to Covid-19 is 127.
