Six Covid-related deaths and 4429 new cases today

Six more people have died with Covid, and there are 4429 new community cases of the virus in New Zealand today, the Ministry of Health says.

There are also 332 people in hospital with the virus, seven of whom are in intensive care.

Three of those who died were from Auckland, two from Canterbury and one from Waikato. One person was aged in their 50s, one in their 60s, two in their 70s and two over 90. Five were men and one was a woman.

A total of 1461 people have now been publicly reported to have died with Covid-19. The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths remains at 12.

Of the 332 people in hospital with Covid, there are three in Northland, 52 in Waitematā, 36 in Counties Manukau, 41 in Auckland, 29 in Waikato, two in Bay of Plenty, 14 in Lakes, seven in Hawke’s Bay, nine in Taranaki, one in Whanganui, 22 in MidCentral, seven in Wairarapa, 12 in Hutt Valley, 21 in Capital and Coast, six in Nelson Marlborough, 37 in Canterbury, 10 in South Canterbury and 23 in Southern. There is no-one in hospital with Covid in West Coast or Tairāwhiti.

Waitematā’s figure is from Friday and will be updated tomorrow.

The average age of those in hospital is 61.

Among new hospital admissions, 31 (14 per cent) aren’t vaccinated, three (1 per cent) are partially immunised, 44 (20 per cent) are double vaccinated and 141 (64 per cent) are boosted.

Vaccination figures are from DHBs with tertiary hospitals: Auckland, Canterbury, Southern, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Capital & Coast, Waitematā and Northland.

New community cases reported over the past 24 hours are from Northland (91), Auckland (409), Waikato (274), Bay of Plenty (129), Lakes (65), Hawke’s Bay (121), MidCentral (122), Whanganui (39), Taranaki (105), Tairāwhiti (20), Wairarapa (48), Capital and Coast (413), Hutt Valley (169), Nelson Marlborough (185), Canterbury (741), South Canterbury (76), Southern (356) and West Coast (29), while the location of four cases is unknown.

There are also 86 new imported cases of Covid-19.

There are currently 34,357 active Covid cases – those that have been identified in the past seven days and not yet classified as recovered.

New Zealand has had a total 1,301,319 confirmed cases of the virus.

Yesterday 35 first vaccine doses, 33 second doses, six third primary doses, 891 booster doses, 63 paediatric first doses and 613 paediatric second doses were administered.

Yesterday, 24 new deaths and 8638 new community cases were reported.

The figures included Saturday and Friday’s figures because of the Matariki public holiday.

One of the deaths was a person who died in May and other 23 were in June.

Eighteen of the people who died were in their 80s and 90s, one person was in their 50s, one in their 60s and four in their 70s.

They brought the total deaths to 1455.

An average of 12 deaths has been reported every day for the past week.

There were 8638 new community cases reported for the past two days. The rolling case average was 4737. Last Saturday it was 5154.

As of Saturday, there were 316 people in hospital with Covid, including four in intensive care.

Meanwhile, the rate of people getting vaccinated has slowed to a trickle, but will shortly increase when medically vulnerable people become eligible for a second booster shot.

Last week the law was changed to allow people to access booster vaccinations without a prescription.

Previously, people would require a GP prescription to access a second booster. The criteria for eligibility have not yet been published but the booster must be at least six months after the person’s first booster shot.

It’s hoped the extra level of protection will help protect those most at risk of severe illness – people who also could be hit hard by other respiratory infections that are sweeping the country over winter.

Aotearoa is battling a higher than normal level of severe influenza and other respiratory infections which are puttingmajor pressure on hospitals and GPs.

The Ministry of Health said the rate of hospitalisations because of severe acute respiratory infection (Sari) had been increasing for the past six weeks, and was currently about nine hospitalisations per 100,000 people – more than previous years at this point in the year.

“ESR advise that it is too early in the season to tell whether the current levels of hospitalisations indicate an early start to the season or the start of a season with particularly high activity.”