Outbreak Covid-19 Omicron: 6718 new cases, 604 people in hospital; Another 12 deaths

In New Zealand, a steady decline in the number of Covid cases continues – today 6,718 new cases have been registered, but 12 more Covid-related deaths.

There are 604 people in hospitals with the virus, including 22 in intensive care.

6,718 cases are the lowest figure for the day since February 24 – 45 days ago – when 6,137 cases were reported.

Otago University professor Michael Baker is cautiously optimistic that we are now on top of the Omicron outbreak.

He says every DHB, except the west coast of the South Island, needs to be sure it has now reached its peak or is experiencing it.

Of the 12 recently reported deaths, the death toll in New Zealand is now 489.

The deaths reported today include people who have died in the past 17 days. The Ministry of Health said the delays with the report could be related to people who do not die from Covid-19, as well as to those whose infection was detected only after death.

Eight of those killed were from Auckland, two from MidCentral, one from the DHB Lakes area and one from Hawks Bay.

One was 40 years old, one was 50, three were 60, two were 70, two were 80 and three were over 90. Six were women and six were men. The average number of deaths in seven days is 13.

“This is a very sad time for Vanov and his friends, and our thoughts and condolences are with them,” the ministry said. “Out of respect, we will no longer comment.”

The average number of cases continues to decline, which, according to the Ministry, is encouraging – although testing and reporting last weekend were generally lower.

Today’s seven-day moving average in the community is 10,543, up from 13,543 last Sunday.

Auckland had the largest number of new cases in the community – 1,202, followed by Canterbury with 1,170 new cases. Other new cases were in Northland (344), Waikato (514), Plenty Bay (300), Lakes (112), Hawke’s Bay (268), Central Central (334), Wanganui (152), Taranaki (215), Tairawiti (80), Wairarapa (84), Capital and Coast (458), Hutt Valley (249), Nelson Marlborough (228), South Canterbury (118), Southern (819) and West Coast (65), while accommodation six was unknown.

Another 31 cases were detected at the border.

There are 73,785 cases that are considered active – meaning that they have been detected in the last seven days and have not yet been classified as recovered. There were a total of 765,609 confirmed cases in New Zealand.

Despite the drop in the number of cases, the ministry reminded people to be vigilant, follow health recommendations and get vaccinated if they did not.

Although there is optimism about a steady decline in cases, officials warn that one should expect a long tail of hospitalization.

The health ministry reported 8,531 new cases in the community on Saturday, nearly 1,400 fewer than the previous day.

There were also 11 Covid-related deaths on Saturday – four in the Auckland region, two in Wellington and one each in Waikato, Lake District, Hawke’s Bay Wanganui and Canterbury.

While cases in New Zealand seem to have peaked, health officials are worried about what could happen in the coming months – with declining immunity to Covid and the onset of winter sickness.

Dion O’Neill of Te Punaha Matatini said New Zealanders ’immunity from vaccination and infection would decline over the next few months.

“Both of them will decrease at about the same rate, and if we move to winter, it will happen when immunity is lower combined with this seasonal effect, so we expect the number of cases to increase.”

O’Neill said he expects the number of infections now to be around 1,000 a day per million people, which almost reflects the situation in Auckland.

Earlier this week, the medical director of the Royal College of General Practitioners of New Zealand said general practitioners were concerned about the onset of winter illness amid Covid.

Pressure on the health care system throughout Covid has led to lower immunizations of children from things like whooping cough and measles, Betty said.

“Every winter the system in New Zealand is stretched and we will have Covid.

“Covid will still be present, it will just be on the ups and downs … so this is a really ambiguous picture with great potential demand for the system in the coming months.

Breakdown of hospital statistics

604 people in the hospital are in Northland (23), Waitemata (94), Manukau (109), Auckland (104), Waikato (60), Bay Plenty (30), Lakes (7), Tairoviti (3), Hawks- Bay (14), Taranaki (8), Wanganui (10), Central (20), Hat Valley (13), Capital and Coast (16), Nelson Marlboro (14), Canterbury (45), South Canterbury (3) , West Coast (5) and South (26). No one is in the hospital with Kovid in Vairarap.

The average age of those hospitalized in DHB Northern Region is 59 years.

Among those in hospitals in the Northern Region, 35 (11 percent) are unvaccinated or ineligible, seven (2 percent) are partially vaccinated, 54 (17 percent) are double vaccinated, and 72 (22 percent) are vaccinated. the status of vaccinations is still 156 cases (48 percent) unknown.

In the last 24 hours, 1,812 people underwent PCR testing and 13,402 rapid antigen tests were registered. About 3.6 million RAT was shipped seven days before April 8.

Yesterday, 52 people received the first dose of the vaccine, 136 – the second, five – the third primary. Another 2,093 received a booster dose, while 183 children aged 5-11 received the first stroke, and 2,291 – the second.

Among people over the age of 12 in New Zealand, 72.7 percent of those eligible are vaccinated and 95.2 percent receive double vaccination.

Among Maori, 57.3 percent have been vaccinated and 88.2 percent twice. For the peoples of the Pacific, the revaccination rate is 59.3 percent and 96.5 percent is double vaccination.
Among children aged 5-11, 54.1% received the first dose of the childhood vaccine and 20.5% the second.

For Maori children, only 35.1 percent received the first dose and 9.6 percent received the second, while 47.3 percent of Pacific children received the first dose and 10.9 percent received the second.