Health officials on Friday reported 20,989 new cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand.
Hospitalisations also continue to be a focus, with 856 people in hospital on Friday, 20 of which were in ICU or HDU.
What you need to know:
- There were 20,989 new COVID-19 cases recorded on Friday.
- Location of new community cases (PCR & RAT): Northland (765), Auckland (7,240), Waikato (1,941), Bay of Plenty (1,352), Lakes (510), Hawke’s Bay (855), MidCentral (682), Whanganui (188), Taranaki (519), Tairāwhiti (330), Wairarapa (174), Capital and Coast (1,746), Hutt Valley (1,044), Nelson Marlborough (443), Canterbury (2,160), South Canterbury (136), Southern (878), West Coast (22); Unknown (4)
- There are 856 people in hospital, including 20 in ICU or HDU
- Locations of hospitalisations: Northland: 13; North Shore: 173; Middlemore: 204; Auckland: 211; Waikato: 74; BOP: 21; Lakes: 11; Tairāwhiti: 1, Hawke’s Bay: 18; Taranaki: 10; MidCentral: 16; Whanganui: 5; Hutt Valley: 22; Capital and Coast: 38; Wairarapa: 4; Nelson Marlborough: 3; Canterbury: 20; Southern: 12.
- Chris Hipkins has announced that the isolation period for anyone that tests positive for COVID and their household contacts has reduced from 10 to seven days
- The Ministry of Health will now provide a breakdown of the deaths of people with COVID-19 - the number who clearly died from COVID-19, those where COVID-19 was not a cause of death, and those which are still under investigation.
These live updates are now over.
2:05pm - Home isolation
Following the Government’s announcement on Wednesday that isolation periods would drop from 10 to seven days, we wish to provide some further information to support people if they test positive for COVID-19 or are a household contact.
If you test positive for COVID-19, you are required to isolate for 7 days. You do not need to be retested after your intial positive result. If you still have symptoms after 7 days, stay home until you feel better and then wait another 24 hrs. Most people feel better after a week but if you are getting worse please do seek help.
If you are a household contact and you have done a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) on both day 3 and 7 of the isolation period of the first COVID-19 positive person in your house, and both tests are negative, you can leave isolation on day 8 if you are well.
If you are a household contact and return a positive RATs result while isolating, you will need to isolate for a further 7 days and wait till 24 hours after you are symptom free. Other household members do not have to reset their isolation and can leave isolation on day 8, the same day as the first case can leave isolation, provided they have returned negative RATs results and are not symptomatic.
If you’re a critical worker, and you have a person in your household who has tested positive for COVID-19, you may be able to continue working if you 1) are fully vaccinated 2) you do not have symptoms and 3) you return a negative RAT before each shift or day of work. Your employer will be able to tell you if you are a critical worker and what you need to do. When not at work, you need to isolate like any other household contact as outlined above. Critical healthcare workers that are household contacts or cases have some additional exemptions. More detail can be found here.
The key message for everyone is if you feel sick, stay at home
1:55pm - COVID-19 related deaths
As we have said, we are today reporting the deaths of seven people with COVID-19. Of these deaths, five occurred in the Auckland region, one in Waikato, and one in the Southern region. The total number of publicly reported COVID-19 related deaths to date is now 98.
Of the people who have died that we are announcing today, one person was in their fifties, four were in their 70s, one was their 80s, and one person was in their 90s. Four were male and three were female.
Out of respect for affected families, we will be making no further comment.
1:50pm - Here's the full data just in from the Ministry of Health:
COVID-19 vaccine update
Today, we are announcing more than 60% of Pacific people across the motu that have become due, have now had their booster dose.
Vaccinations administered in New Zealand
- Vaccines administered to date: 4,022,346 first doses; 3,967,353 second doses; 34,164 third primary doses; 2,496,823 booster doses: 252,273 paediatric first doses and 6,342 paediatric second doses
- Vaccines administered yesterday: 213 first doses; 748 second doses; 53 third primary doses; 7,863 booster doses; 686 paediatric first doses and 299 paediatric second doses
People vaccinated
- All Ethnicities (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 4,067,971 first dose (96.6%); 4,010,167 second dose (95.3%), 2,498,467 boosted (72.7% of those eligible)
- Māori (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 520,707 first dose (91.2%); 501,569 second dose (87.8%), 218,173 boosted (59.7% of those eligible)
- Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 281,507 first dose (98.2%); 275,825 second dose (96.2%), 130,079 boosted (59.5% of those eligible)
- 5 to 11-year-olds all ethnicities: 252,073 first dose (52.9%); 6,230 second dose (1.3%)
- 5 to 11-year-olds - Māori: 38,794 first dose (33.6%); 1,017 second dose (0.9%)
- 5 to 11-year-olds - Pacific Peoples: 22,448 first dose (45.4%); 715 second dose (1.4%)
Note that the number for “People vaccinated” differs slightly from “Vaccines administered” as it includes those that have been vaccinated overseas.
Vaccination rates for all DHBs*
- Northland DHB: first dose (90.5%); second dose (88.1%); boosted (70.2%)
- Auckland Metro DHB: first dose (97.4%); second dose (96.2%); boosted (70.5%)
- Waikato DHB: first dose (95.4%); second dose (93.7%); boosted (68.5%)
- Bay of Plenty DHB: first dose (95.4%); second dose (93.5%); boosted (69.2%)
- Lakes DHB: first dose (93.7%); second dose (91.7%); boosted (69.4%)
- MidCentral DHB: first dose (96.9%); second dose (95.5%); boosted (74.9%)
- Tairāwhiti DHB: first dose (93.5%); second dose (91.1%); boosted (70%)
- Whanganui DHB: first dose (92.5%); second dose (90.7%); boosted (74.5%)
- Hawke’s Bay DHB: first dose (97.4%); second dose (95.5%); boosted (72.8%)
- Taranaki DHB: first dose (94.9%); second dose (93.3%); boosted (70%)
- Wairarapa DHB: first dose (96.8%); second dose (95.2%); boosted (75.6%)
- Capital & Coast DHB: first dose (98.8%); second dose (98%); boosted (81.1%)
- Hutt Valley DHB: first dose (97%); second dose (95.8%); boosted (77.3%)
- Nelson Marlborough DHB: first dose (97%); second dose (95.6%); boosted (76.3%)
- West Coast DHB: first dose (93.1%); second dose (91.4%); boosted (74.5%)
- Canterbury DHB: first dose (100%); second dose (98.9%); boosted (75.3%)
- South Canterbury DHB: first dose (95.5%); second dose (94.3%); boosted (76.7%)
- Southern DHB: first dose (98.3%); second dose (97.1%); boosted (75.1%)
*Partially and second doses percentages are for those 12+. Boosted percentages are for 18+ who have become eligible 3 months after having their second dose
Hospitalisations*
- Cases in hospital: total number 856: Northland: 13; North Shore: 173; Middlemore: 204; Auckland: 211; Waikato: 74; BOP: 21; Lakes: 11; Tairāwhiti: 1, Hawke’s Bay: 18; Taranaki: 10; MidCentral: 16; Whanganui: 5; Hutt Valley: 22; Capital and Coast: 38; Wairarapa: 4; Nelson Marlborough: 3; Canterbury: 20; Southern: 12.
- Average age of current hospitalisations: 57
- Cases in ICU or HDU: 20
- Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region only, excluding Emergency Departments): Unvaccinated or not eligible (101 cases / 18.7%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (14 cases / 2.59%); double vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (193 cases / 35.74%); Received booster at least 7 days before being reported as a case (153 cases / 28.33%); unknown (79 cases / 14.63%)
*While still early in the Omicron outbreak, the figures show that just over 3% of people aged 12 and over in the Northern Region have had no doses of the vaccine, while of those aged 12 and over in Northland and Auckland hospitals with COVID-19 for whom we have vaccination status recorded, 19% have had no doses of the vaccine.
Cases
- Seven day rolling average of community cases: 19,866
- Number of new community cases: 20,989
- Number of new community cases (PCR): 669
- Number of new community cases (RAT): 20,320
- Location of new community cases (PCR & RAT): Northland (765), Auckland (7,240), Waikato (1,941), Bay of Plenty (1,352), Lakes (510), Hawke’s Bay (855), MidCentral (682), Whanganui (188), Taranaki (519), Tairāwhiti (330), Wairarapa (174), Capital and Coast (1,746), Hutt Valley (1,044), Nelson Marlborough (443), Canterbury (2,160), South Canterbury (136), Southern (878), West Coast (22); Unknown (4)
- Number of new cases identified at the border: 23
- Number of active community cases (total): 209,754 (cases identified in the past 10 days and not yet classified as recovered)
- Confirmed cases (total): 327,925
Please note, the Ministry of Health’s daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO.
Tests
- Number of PCR tests total (last 24 hours): 4,614
- PCR tests rolling average (last 7 days up to 03/03): 6,106
- Number of Rapid Antigen Tests dispatched (last 7 days): 13.4 million
1:35pm - The Blues have confirmed a "small number" of their playing squad have tested positive for COVID-19.
The news comes just hours before their round four clash with the Highlanders at North Harbour Stadium on Friday.
The game will still proceed as planned, albeit with some changes to the Blues match-day 23, which are yet to be announced.
1:20pm - Old says more than 2 million RATs have been distributed through community testing centres and collection sites since the start of March. More than half of a million RAT results have been received in that time.
For supervised RATs, the positivity rate is about 28 percent, while for self-reported tests its 46 percent. This will be down to fewer negative results being reported, Old says.
1:15pm - The full COVID-19 data hasn't yet been sent through. But we will bring it to you as soon as it arrives.
1:05pm - Old says while officials know not every case is being detected, they believe there is good testing coverage. About 15 percent of people registered with a GP have been tested in the last two weeks, he says. He is cautiously optimistic about the outbreak.
Overseas experience shows Omicron outbreaks can have a long tail and vulnerable and elderly people tend to be affected near the end of an outbreak.
While hospitalisations have increased this week, Old says about 0.5 percent of all current cases are in hospital. About 1.5 percent of cases have been hospitalised over the course of the outbreak.
Admissions are placing pressure on the hospital system at the same time some health professionals are also needing to isolate.
1pm - Andrew Old, the NRHCC chief clinical officer, says there are 20,989 new cases across New Zealand with 7172 in Auckland. There are 856 people in hospital, with 20 in ICU. There are seven further deaths of people with COVID-19. That's the highest number of daily deaths in the outbreak, highlighting that while Omicron is mild for some people, for others it is not.
12:50pm - We have placed a livestream of the press conference in the video component above. Refresh your page if it doesn't load. The briefing will start at 1pm.
12:40pm - Up to one in three patients coming through Hutt Hospital's emergency department have COVID-19.
Emergency doctor Tanya Wilton said admissions records showed 20 to 30 percent of patients this week tested positive.
At the same time as dealing with this big influx of COVID patients, the ED was having to scramble to fill holes in the roster.
12:30pm - Welcome to Newshub's live updates for Friday. We are expecting an update from the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre at about 1pm, when the national data will also be released.
