New Zealand has recorded 1422 cases of COVID-19, but this week saw the number of recovered cases surpass those that are still active.
Broken down, 1094 are confirmed COVID-19 cases, while 328 are probable. There are currently 20 people in hospital, with three people in intensive care. Two of those are in a critical condition.
There have been 11 deaths, while 867 people have recovered from the respiratory illness. According to the Ministry of Health, an individual has recovered when it has been at least 10 days since the onset of their symptoms and they have been symptom-free for at least 48 hours. They must be cleared by a health professional and remain in self-isolation for 14 days.
Find last week's breakdown of cases here for comparison.
Where are the cases?
This week, the Ministry began highlighting how many active, recovered and dead cases there are in each District Health Board. Southern DHB continues to have the most cases overall, while Tairawhiti has the fewest.
Cases in each DHB, ordered by the overall number of cases recorded
- Southern: 64 active, 152 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 216
- Waitemata: 86 active, 120 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 206
- Auckland: 49 active, 136 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 185
- Waikato: 98 active, 84 recovered, 1 dead. Total: 183
- Canterbury: 64 active, 76 recovered, 7 dead. Total: 147
- Counties Manukau: 32 active, 78 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 110
- Capital and Coast: 42 active, 49 recovered, 2 dead. Total: 93
- Nelson-Marlborough: 14 active, 34 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 48
- Bay of Plenty: 13 active, 32 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 45
- Hawke's Bay: 21 active, 20 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 41
- MidCentral: 11 active, 20 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 31
- Northland: 17 active, 10 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 27
- Hutt Valley: 7 active, 13 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 20
- Lakes: 5 active, 11 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 16
- South Canterbury: 9 active, 6 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 15
- Taranaki: 3 active, 11 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 14
- Wairarapa: 0 active, 8 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 8
- Whanganui: 4 active, 4 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 8
- West Coast: 2 active, 2 recovered, 1 dead. Total: 5
- Tairawhiti: 3 active, 1 recovered, 0 dead. Total: 4
The seven deaths in Canterbury are all linked to the group from the Rosewood Rest Home cluster who were transferred to Burwood Hospital. New Zealand's first death was Greymouth woman Anne Guenole on the West Coast. Two people have died in Wellington, one of which was linked to the Bluff cluster. A single person has died in Waikato. He was linked to the Matamata cluster.
Of New Zealand's 20 hospitalised cases, seven are in Waitemata, four are in Auckland, there are two each in Canterbury, Counties Manukau and Waikato, with single hospitalised cases in Northland, Southern and South Canterbury DHBs.
Transmission
With the decision of whether to extend or lift New Zealand's nationwide lockdown scheduled to be made on Monday, a key piece of information officials are looking at is the origins of cases. If authorities can identify how someone became infected, it is easier to ringfence those who may have been exposed and control transmission.
The Ministry of Health engaged in a close analysis this week of many of the cases of unknown origins recorded since March 24. It found most were linked to other known Kiwi cases, with only a handful being from community transmission - where the origin cannot be determined. The number of cases deemed under investigation has therefore fallen since last Saturday.
Surveillance testing was also conducted in Queenstown, Canterbury, Waikato and Auckland supermarkets this week to ensure no silent outbreaks were being missed. All results back so far from those tests have been negative.
With fewer people arriving back in the country, the number of overseas transmission cases is dropping.
Transmission type:
- Contact with known case: 54 percent
- Recent overseas travel: 38 percent
- Community transmission: 4 percent
- Source under investigation: 3 percent
Clusters
Most of the cases now being recorded in New Zealand are being linked to clusters. These are groups of COVID-19 cases linked together as they have all been to the same location, but are not all part of the same household. Within a cluster there may be an individual who has a link to someone who has travelled.
New Zealand has 16 significant clusters, up three since last Saturday. These are clusters with 10 or more cases. The origin of some remains unknown and under investigation.
- Bluff wedding: 96 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Marist College, Auckland: 92 cases, unknown origin
- Matamata bar: 75 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Rosewood Rest Home, Christchurch: 40 cases, unknown origin
- Stag party, Auckland: 38 cases, unknown origin
- World Hereford Conference, Queenstown: 35 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- "Community", Auckland: 30 cases, unknown origin
- Ruby Princess cruise ship, Hawkes Bay: 22 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Auckland rest home (1): 21 cases, unknown origin
- George Manning retirement village, Christchurch: 20 cases, unknown origin
- Wellington group which travelled to the United States: 16 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Auckland group which travelled to the United States: 16 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Waikato rest home: 14 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Auckland rest home: 14 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Wellington wedding: 13 cases, linked to overseas exposure
- Christchurch workplace: 10 cases, linked to overseas exposure
Ages
- 0-9: 33
- 10-19: 113
- 20-29: 340
- 30-39: 217
- 40-49: 209
- 50-59: 234
- 60-69: 167
- 70+: 109
Gender
- Male: 639
- Female: 782
- Not specified: 1
Ethnicity
- European or other: 1053
- Asian: 158
- Maori: 121
- Pacific peoples: 65
- Unknown: 25
What we know about the coronavirus
The World Health Organization (WHO) was first notified of cases of the virus SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) in Wuhan, China on December 31. It was identified as a coronavirus on January 7 and can spread via human-to-human transmission. It causes the coronavirus COVID-19 illness.
The virus is primarily spread through droplets in the air after someone sneezes or coughs, however, it can also be contracted by touching surfaces where the illness is present. The length of time the virus stays alive on surfaces isn't fully understood, but some studies have suggested that on some materials it could be for days.
"Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death," the WHO says.
"Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing."
There is currently no vaccine for the sickness.
There are 2.25 million cases worldwide, with 155,000 having died.
