There are 5499 new community cases of Covid-19 today, and another 18 people have died with the disease, including three in Canterbury.
There are 334 people in hospital with the virus, including four in ICU, the Ministry of Health says.
The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 4873 – last Wednesday it was 5777.
Fifteen of the deaths reported today occurred in the past three days, and the other three occurred since June 13.
Three were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, one was from MidCentral, five were from the Wellington region, two were from Nelson-Marlborough, three were from Canterbury, one was from South Canterbury, and two were from Southern.
One person was in their 50s, one was in their 60s, three were in their 70s, eight were in their 80s and five were aged over 90. Ten were women and eight were men.
The deaths take the pandemic total to 1450, and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 13.
There are 446 new cases in the Southern DHB area, down from 493 yesterday. There are 24 people in southern hospitals with the virus, a drop of six from the 30 reported yesterday.
Location of new community cases: Northland (144), Auckland (1,637), Waikato (335), Bay of Plenty (166), Lakes (81), Hawke’s Bay (150), MidCentral (129), Whanganui (53), Taranaki (144), Tairāwhiti (54), Wairarapa (56), Capital and Coast (559), Hutt Valley (252), Nelson Marlborough (258), Canterbury (896), South Canterbury (85), Southern (446), West Coast (50), Unknown (4).
Cases in hospital: Northland: 8; Waitematā: 41; Counties Manukau: 37; Auckland: 57; Waikato: 26; Bay of Plenty: 10; Lakes: 1; Tairāwhiti: 2; Hawke’s Bay: 6; Taranaki: 15; Whanganui: 3; MidCentral: 25; Wairarapa: 1; Hutt Valley: 17; Capital and Coast: 15; Nelson Marlborough: 5; Canterbury: 38; South Canterbury: 3; West Coast: 0; Southern: 24.
Ministry's Matariki weekend reminder
The Ministry of Health says the long weekend is always an ideal time to get away and relax with whānau and friends – if you are going away, please remember to have plans in place in the event you contract COVID-19 or are identified as a household contact of a case.
You would need to self-isolate and likely remain wherever you test positive or become a household contact, so there may be extra costs involved in paying for additional accommodation and changing your travel plans.
If you have used your own vehicle to travel, you can travel back to your home to isolate, taking public health measures to ensure you don’t infect anyone on your way home – such as maintaining social distance (distancing yourself from others), wearing your mask correctly, making sure you keep your hands clean and dry and using self-service petrol stations if you need to refuel your vehicle.
However, if you have used public transport or travelled between islands, you won’t be able to travel to isolate at your home. So it is important you have a plan and the ability to isolate where you are holidaying if you need to do so.
As with all variants of Omicron, the public health advice remains the same. Getting your booster remains one of the best defences against COVID-19. Stay home if you’re unwell, get tested if you’re symptomatic, wash and dry your hands, cover coughs and sneezes, wear a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor public settings and get vaccinated.
- ODT Online
