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Coronavirus

Coronavirus: Latest on COVID-19 Omicron outbreak - Wednesday, April 27

The Ministry of Health has on Wednesday reported the lowest number of people in hospital with COVID-19 since early March.

There were 473 COVID cases in hospital on Wednesday, down from 508 on Tuesday.

Another 23 COVID deaths were recorded, including people who died over the past six days and one person who died on April 3.

While Wednesday's cases climbed to 9830 from 6380 on Tuesday, the seven-day rolling average remained relatively stable at 7884.

What you need to know:

  • All of New Zealand is at the orange COVID traffic light setting
  • New Zealand recorded 9830 new community COVID cases on Wednesday
  • Twenty-three additional deaths of people with COVID-19 were reported.
  • There were 473 people in hospital on Tuesday, 17 of whom were in ICU.

This article is no longer being updated.

1:20pm - Finally, below is the latest on testing and vaccinations: 

Tests 

  • Number of PCR tests total (last 24 hours): 2388
  • Number of Rapid Antigen Tests reported total (last 24 hours): 19,024
  • PCR tests rolling average (last 7 days): 2116
  • Number of Rapid Antigen Tests dispatched (last 7 days as of 22 April 2022): 629,000

Vaccinations administered in New Zealand  

  • Vaccines administered to date: 4,026,461 first doses; 3,977,592 second doses; 31,751 third primary doses; 2,623,966 booster doses: 261,133 paediatric first doses and 111,749 paediatric second doses  
  • Vaccines administered yesterday: 49 first doses; 119 second doses; 25 third primary doses; 1,734 booster doses; 127 paediatric first doses and 1,126 paediatric second doses  

People vaccinated  

  • All Ethnicities (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 4,056,154 first dose (96.4%); 4,006,665 second dose (95.2%), 2,620,331 boosted (71.1% of those eligible)  
  • Māori (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 520,930 first dose (91.2%); 503,926 second dose (88.2%), 233,822 boosted (54.9% of those eligible)  
  • Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 281,809 first dose (98.3%); 276,897 second dose (96.6%), 139,372 boosted (57% of those eligible)  
  • 5 to 11-year-olds all ethnicities: 258,481 first dose (54.3%); 109,148 second dose (22.9%)  
  • 5 to 11-year-olds - Māori: 40,739 first dose (35.3%); 12,349 second dose (10.7%)  
  • 5 to 11-year-olds - Pacific Peoples: 23,437 first dose (47.4%); 6,121 second dose (12.4%) 

Vaccination rates for all DHBs

  • Northland DHB: first dose (90.1%); second dose (88%); boosted (67.8%)  
  • Auckland DHB: first dose (99.2%); second dose (98.3%); boosted (72.9%)  
  • Counties Manukau DHB: first dose (96.2%); second dose (95%); boosted (65.9%)  
  • Waitemata DHB: first dose (96.5%); second dose (95.6%); boosted (70.7%)  
  • Waikato DHB: first dose (95.1%); second dose (93.6%); boosted (66.6%)  
  • Bay of Plenty DHB: first dose (95.1%); second dose (93.4%); boosted (66.1%)  
  • Lakes DHB: first dose (93.1%); second dose (91.4%); boosted (66.4%)  
  • MidCentral DHB: first dose (96.4%); second dose (95.2%); boosted (72.2%)  
  • Tairāwhiti DHB: first dose (93.2%); second dose (91%); boosted (66%)  
  • Whanganui DHB: first dose (91.9%); second dose (90.4%); boosted (71.5%)  
  • Hawke’s Bay DHB: first dose (97.2%); second dose (95.6%); boosted (69.9%)  
  • Taranaki DHB: first dose (94.7%); second dose (93.3%); boosted (68.2%)  
  • Wairarapa DHB: first dose (96.5%); second dose (95%); boosted (73%)  
  • Capital & Coast DHB: first dose (98.5%); second dose (97.8%); boosted (79.4%)  
  • Hutt Valley DHB: first dose (96.6%); second dose (95.7%); boosted (75%)  
  • Nelson Marlborough DHB: first dose (96.4%); second dose (95.2%); boosted (73.4%)  
  • West Coast DHB: first dose (92.7%); second dose (91.3%); boosted (71.6%)  
  • Canterbury DHB: first dose (99.7%); second dose (98.8%); boosted (74.5%)  
  • South Canterbury DHB: first dose (94.7%); second dose (93.7%); boosted (74.5%)  
  • Southern DHB: first dose (98.5%); second dose (97.4%); boosted (73.2%)

1:15pm - A further breakdown of case and hospitalisation data is below:

Hospitalisations

  • Cases in hospital: total number 473: Northland: 39; Waitemata: 71; Counties Manukau: 65; Auckland: 96; Waikato: 28; Bay of Plenty: 18; Lakes: 3; Tairāwhiti: 1; Hawke’s Bay: 11; Taranaki: 7; Whanganui: 3; MidCentral: 7; Wairarapa: 3; Hutt Valley: 14; Capital and Coast: 13; Nelson Marlborough: 8; Canterbury: 54; South Canterbury: 2; West Coast: 0; Southern: 30
  • *Average age of current hospitalisations: 60
  • Cases in ICU or HDU: 17
  • Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region only, excluding Emergency Departments): Unvaccinated or not eligible (46 cases / 17.62%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (6 cases / 2.30%); double vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (76 cases / 29.12%); Received booster at least 7 days before being reported as a case (126 cases / 48.28%); unknown (7 cases / 2.68%)

Cases 

  • Seven day rolling average of community cases: 7884
  • Seven day rolling average (as at same day last week): 7834
  • Number of new community cases: 9830
  • Number of new community cases (PCR): 171
  • Number of new community cases (RAT): 9659
  • Location of new community cases (PCR & RAT): Northland (295), Auckland (2,442), Waikato (647), Bay of Plenty (335), Lakes (203), Hawke’s Bay (337), MidCentral (349), Whanganui (126), Taranaki (264), Tairāwhiti (110), Wairarapa (118), Capital and Coast (628), Hutt Valley (290), Nelson Marlborough (350), Canterbury (1,718), South Canterbury (222), Southern (1,281), West Coast (109), Unknown (6)
  • Number of new cases identified at the border: 74
  • Number of active community cases (total): 55,169 (cases identified in the past 7 days and not yet classified as recovered) 
  • Confirmed cases (total): 903,451

1:12pm - COVID-19 hospitalisations (473) are now the lowest they've been since March 2, the Ministry of Health says.

1:10pm - Below are more details on the latest COVID-19 deaths:

Today we are sadly reporting the deaths of 23 people with COVID-19. The deaths being reported today include people who have all died over the previous six days apart from one death on April 3.

The increase in deaths reported today follows a similar pattern often seen after weekends or public holidays.

Delays to reporting can also be associated with people dying with COVID-19, rather than from COVID-19, and COVID being discovered only after they have died.

These deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with COVID-19 to 710 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 14.

Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today, two people were from the Auckland region, four from Bay of Plenty, three from Waikato, two from Taranaki, two from MidCentral, two from Hawke’s Bay, one from Hutt Valley, one from Capital and Coast, five from Canterbury and one from South Canterbury.

One was in their 40s, two in their 60s, seven in their 70s, seven in their 80s and six were over 90.

Seven were women and 16 were men.

Out of respect, we will be making no further comment. 

1:07pm - There are 23 COVID-19 deaths, 9830 cases and 473 people in hospital including 17 in ICU, the Ministry of Health says.

12:50pm - While we wait for the latest numbers, below are the COVID-19 news headlines from Wednesday morning:

12:45pm - Kia ora, good afternoon and welcome to Newshub's COVID-19 live updates for Wednesday. The latest numbers are due in about 15 minutes - we'll bring them to you as soon as they come to hand.