Ella Bates-Hermans / Stuff
As of today, New Zealanders over 50, along with people at greater health risk, and health, elderly and disability care workers over 30 who received their booster dose six months ago are now eligible for a second Covid-19 boost shot.
According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health, there are 8,028 new community cases and 16 new deaths to report in the past week.
There are also 383 people in hospital with Covid-19, including seven patients in intensive care or high-dependency care units. The average age of those admitted to hospital with the virus is 63.
The continuous average of seven days of community affairs is up to 602 compared to the same day last week: from Tuesday it was 5480, while last Tuesday it was 4878.
In a statement accompanying the release, the ministry said the increase was “not uncommon after a long weekend”, and more time was needed to determine if it was part of a trend.
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The continuous average of seven days of reported deaths is 12.
Of the 16 people who died, four were from the Auckland region, two were from Waikato, two were from Hawke’s Bay, one was from MidCentral, two were from Taranaki, one was from Wairarapa, one was from Wellington, two were from Canterbury , and one was from the Southern region.
One person was between 10 and 19 years old, three were in their 70s, six were in their 80s and six were older than 90. Of these people, 11 were male and five were female.
In the 13:00 updates, the Ministry of Health releases a total number of people who died “with Covid” in a specific period. This does not necessarily mean that the virus killed those people, it just means that they tested positive within 28 days after their death or immediately thereafter.
IAIN MCGREGOR / STUFF
The South Island’s stock of rapid antigen Covid-19 tests – all 5 million of them – are stored in a Christchurch warehouse.
The ministry later provided further information on the cause of those deaths on its website. You can read an explanation of how it works here.
New community affairs were reported in: Northland (169), Auckland (2,584), Waikato (465), Bay of Plenty (274), Lakes (111), Hawke’s Bay (257), MidCentral (217), Whanganui (76) , Taranaki (251), Tairāwhiti (87), Wairarapa (88), Capital and Coast (744), Hutt Valley (301), Nelson Marlborough (281), Canterbury (1 225), South Canterbury (107), Suider (733) ), West Coast (55), Unknown (3).
Sunday’s cases have seen Aotearoa’s total confirmed cases since the pandemic exceeded 1.3 million, rising to 1,315,327 on Tuesday.
There were 38,341 active cases (those identified in the past seven days, which are not yet considered recoverable), as officials recorded another 94 imported (border) cases.
Ministers will consider whether to change the orange traffic light setting this week.
As of today, New Zealanders over 50 and people at greater health risk will be able to receive their second Covid-19 booster shot.
Qualification has also been extended to include health, elderly care and disability care workers over the age of 30, eleven six months have elapsed since a previous booster dose.
It comes with the health system under pressure, with high levels of respiratory diseases driven by the “twinemia” of flu and Covid-19.