Health officials on Friday reported 41 further deaths related to the virus across New Zealand and 7,605 new cases in the community.
Of the 41 deaths, one person in their 50s, one in their 60s, eight in their 70s, 12 in their 80s, and 19 was over the age of 90. Of these people, 22 were women and 19 men. Seven were from Canterbury, 14 from the Auckland area, three from Waikato, two from Bay of Plenty, three from Lakes, two from Hawke’s Bay, one from Taranaki, two from MidCentral, two from Whanganui, two from the Wellington area and three came from the south.
A total of 799 people are hospitalized with the virus, including 25 patients in the ICU, 129 in Canterbury/West Coast DHB hospitals and 13 in South Canterbury hospitals.
The other hospitalized cases are in Northland: 21; Countdown: 100; Provinces of Manukau: 51; Auckland: 93; Waikato: 97; Bay of Plenty: 35; Lakes: 16; Hawke’s Bay: 44; Middle Central: 48; Overall: 13; Taranaki: 21; East: 5; Watermelon: 7; Capital & Coast/Hutt: 45; Nelson Marlborough: 17; and South: 44.
Since the start of the pandemic, 1,479 deaths have now been attributed to Covid-19, either as an underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor. The average number of deaths per day in the past seven days is 18.
The seven-day moving average of the number of community cases is 7,618 today, compared to 8,915 on the same day last week.
There are now 53,301 active cases in New Zealand, with 7,357 in Canterbury.
Today’s update comes as outgoing health chief, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, issued a final warning to “don’t give up now” as he thanked Kiwis for their efforts to tackle Covid-19.
It’s Bloomfield’s last day in office as director general of health as he steps down from the high-profile job.
This week, he gave his 307th Covid update since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, sharing encouraging news that the number of cases in the second Omicron wave was falling and that the worst fears of earlier modeling are unlikely to materialize.
And this morning he made one last appearance on social media to thank everyone and urge people to continue the great work against the virus.
“Kia ora New Zealand. Now that I am done with the role of Director General, I would like to take a moment to thank you very much for all the hard work you have done over the past two and a half years as part of the response of New Zealand on the pandemic.
“We’ve been successful because we’ve done it as a team.
“But don’t give up now. Keep up the great work. We are, as I said, not out of the woods yet, but we can always see a path through the woods.
“We’ve charted our own path – let’s keep doing that.”