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Live: 42,740 cases, 64 deaths in past 7 days; Covid wave keeps climbing

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 19 Dec 2022, 12:30pm
Covid-19 cases continue to increase in the lead up to Christmas. Photo / Supplied
Covid-19 cases continue to increase in the lead up to Christmas. Photo / Supplied

Live: 42,740 cases, 64 deaths in past 7 days; Covid wave keeps climbing

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 19 Dec 2022, 12:30pm

The Government has announced New Zealand鈥檚 Covid-19 settings will remain unchanged over the summer break, meaning people will still need to isolate for seven days if they test positive for the virus.

There has been 42,740 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the community over the past seven days. The Ministry has also reported a further 64 deaths related to the virus in the past week.

As of midnight last night, 581 people were in hospital with the virus, including 15 in intensive care.

Of today鈥檚 reported deaths three were from Northland, 19 were from the Auckland region, seven were from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, four were from Lakes, four were from Hawke鈥檚 Bay, one was from Taranaki, five were from MidCentral, three were from Whanganui, two were from the Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, ten were from Canterbury, three were from Southern.

One was in their 30s, two were in their 40s, one was in their 50s, five were in their 60s, 12 were in their 70s, 28 were in their 80s and 15 were aged over 90.

Of the new cases in the last week, 12,809 were reinfections.

The seven-day rolling average for new cases recorded each day is now 6,099.

It鈥檚 likely to be the worst week of Covid-19 infections in this latest Omicron wave, as people prepare to head off on their Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile, wastewater virus levels are trending upward and preliminary analysis from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) suggests they are still increasing.

ESR鈥橲 final wastewater report for the year is due to be released on Friday.

Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall said the country鈥檚 settings will remain unchanged following a final review for the year.

鈥淭hat includes the retention of 7-day mandatory isolation for positive cases, in order to break the chain of transmission and keep cases and hospitalisations at a manageable level.鈥�

Verrall said people eligible for their booster vaccine should get one now and it wasn鈥檛 too late for people who haven鈥檛 yet had their first or second dose.

Masks, rapid antigen tests, and vaccines could be accessed for free from thousands of locations across the country, she said.

鈥淲ith many people travelling around the country over the coming weeks, it鈥檚 important that everyone plays their part. Get prepared now so we can all have safe as summer,鈥� Verrall said.

Last week 40,098 new cases of Covid-19 in the community were reported and a further 35 deaths related to the virus.

There were 514 people in hospital with the virus, including 14 in intensive care.

As people look forward to their summer breaks,听

College for Emergency Medicine chair Kate Allan told RNZ the populations of places like the Coromandel, Thames, Northland, Queenstown and Wanaka boomed at this time of year.

鈥淪o those hospitals are under significant pressure, and if they鈥檙e already understaffed, that creates additional issues.鈥�

Taup艒 Hospital emergency doctor Jeremy Webber said Covid-19 had beaten the holiday hordes to town.

鈥淟ast weekend, for example, I saw more Covid-positive patients than I saw in those first waves a few months ago.鈥�

In the lead-up to Christmas,听when there were fewer people around to lessen the risk of Covid.

But at the top of his list was wearing a respirator mask such as an N95 at any indoor shopping mall or supermarket.

鈥淲e know the virus is more prevalent right now and the more people you share an indoor environment with the higher the risk.

Last week University of Auckland senior lecturer in computational evolution Dr David Welch said with almost 6000 cases per day being reported, between 2 or 3 out of every 100 people in the country were infected.

鈥淲e can expect roughly these levels of infection to persist through to Christmas. So at any sizeable gathering of people, there is a high chance that someone will infected and may infect others.

鈥淭herefore it is a good idea to keep a few simple rules in mind to minimise the chances of transmission.鈥�

Welch encouraged people to hold events outside or in well-ventilated venues.

People should wear a mask when travelling on crowned planes or buses, he said.

He also encouraged people to make good use of rapid antigen tests.

鈥淚f organising a family event, get everyone to take a RAT test before the event, especially if vulnerable older people are attending. If you are all gathering together from different parts of the country, test for the first few days after travelling.

Finding infections early and getting infected people to isolate could stop the spread, Welch said.

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