Covid-19: 10,470 new community cases, 16 further deaths reported

There are 10,470 new cases of COVID-19as officials report an additional 16 deaths in people with the virus in the past 11 days.

There are 773 people hospitalized with the virus, 14 of whom are in intensive care or high-dependency wards, the health ministry advised Friday, more than an hour later than expected.

The seven-day moving average of new community cases is 9,994, up from 8,310 last Friday.

The moving average of people in hospital with Covid-19 on Friday (700) is almost 200 higher than the same day the week before (499).

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The 16 deaths announced Friday bring the total of publicly reported deaths in Aotearoa to 1776 and the seven-day death toll to 20.

One of the deceased was in his 60s, one was in his 70s, six were in his 80s and eight were over 90. Four were women and 12 were men.

Three were from the Auckland area, one from Waikato, one from Bay of Plenty, one from Lakes, one from MidCentral, two from Whanganui, five from the Wellington area, one from South Canterbury and one from South.

In the 1:00 p.m. updates, the Ministry of Health releases a total number of people who have died “with Covid” in a certain period of time. That doesn’t necessarily mean the virus killed those people, it just means they tested positive within 28 days of their death or immediately after.

The ministry will later provide more information about the cause of these deaths on his website. You can read how this works here here.

The number of people in hospitals with the virus on Friday is the highest since March 31.

The health district with the highest number of Covid-positive patients treated in hospitals is Waitematā (North and West Auckland): 141 cases.

Auckland and Canterbury hospitals each have 102 Covid-19 patients.

All 20 districts have active Covid-19 cases in hospital.

In Auckland, Canterbury, Southern, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Capital & Coast, Waitematā and Northland, the average age of those hospitalized with the virus is 64 years.

Of the new admissions in the seven days leading up to Wednesday, 52 were unvaccinated or ineligible. Four had one dose; 74 had received two doses of vaccine and 382 had been boosted.

It is expected that most people in hospital will be vaccinated with Covid-19. This is because more than 95% of the eligible population aged 12 years and older received two doses and 73.1% received a boost.

This could lead to vaccinated people overrepresented in hospital admission data.

Of the cases reported Friday, there were 412 reinfections. Of these, 130 cases were detected between 29 and 90 days after a previous infection.

Another 333 cases were recorded in recent returnees.

Canterbury/West Coast continues to be responsible for the highest number of new intercourse cases, with 1,551 cases reported in the last 24 hours (64 of which were on the West Coast).

Waitematā had the second-highest number of new cases, 1,551, followed by Capital and Coast/Hutt Valley, which saw 1,176 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Friday’s announcement comes after Covid-19 Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said on Thursday that New Zealand would remain in the “orange” traffic light setting amid the increasing number of cases and hospitalizations, but that free masks would be available to collect, along with rapid antigen testing, from collection points.

Pharmac also made it easier for people to access antivirals used to treat Covid-19 in people at highest risk of hospitalization.

This includes all people aged 75 and over and those previously directly admitted to an Intensive Care Unit as a result of Covid-19.