'Not out of the woods yet': 1612 new Covid cases, three deaths in Canterbury

There are 1612 new community cases of Covid-19 in Canterbury today and three more deaths have been reported in the region.

There are 10,772 new Covid cases in the New Zealand community, 21 deaths and 788 people in hospital today. 

And the director-general of health says we need to "keep our wits about us" as Covid-19 sub-variants spread overseas and there's always a chance of a more severe variant than Omicron emerging in New Zealand. 

Dr Ashley Bloomfield said today one in 20 people reporting to hospitals across the country have Covid-19 - and there has been a  "significant increase" in cases in the community due to the BA.5 variant.

"At this stage we are expecting increase in cases and hospitalisations," Bloomfield said at this afternoon's Covid update.

Of the 788 cases in New Zealand hospitals, 20 are in HDU or ICU, 115 are in Canterbury/West Coast DHB hospitals and nine are in South Canterbury hospitals.

The other cases are spread across Northland: 28; Waitematā: 135; Counties Manukau: 57; Auckland: 102; Waikato: 60; Bay of Plenty: 43; Lakes: 20; Hawke’s Bay: 35; MidCentral: 34; Whanganui: 17; Taranaki: 15; Tairāwhiti: 4; Wairarapa: 7; Capital & Coast/Hutt: 50; Nelson Marlborough: 15; and Southern: 42.

Of the 21 deaths reported today, three were from Canterbury/West Coast, two were from Auckland region, one was from Waikato, one was from Lakes, two were from MidCentral, one was from Whanganui, three were from Wellington region, four were from Nelson/Marlborough, and four were from Southern. One person was in their 40s, one was in their 60s, four were in their 70s, 10 were in their 80s and five were aged over 90. Thirteen were women and eight were men.

Bloomfield said case rates and wastewater testing indicated cases are increasing nationally.

"Our case rates and wastewater results do show that the cases are increasing across all regions around New Zealand," Bloomfield said.

"Our hospitalisation rate for the week to 17 July increased by 28 per cent, so that's quite a significant increase."

Bloomfield said while the initial Omicron outbreak was largely focused around younger age groups, rates are now higher in older folk - particularly those aged over 65.

Two community cases of the BA.2.75 subvariant have been found in Auckland - the first community cases of the subvariant - but both are linked to known cases at the border and are isolating at home. This adds to the previous six cases of the subvariant found at the border.

"At this stage we don't see anything which would indicate the need to change our public health settings, that's the conclusion other countries are drawing as well around BA.2.75."

Bloomfield said some there are characteristics which enable it to evade immunity but there's no current evidence it leads to more severe disease.

There are now 66,653 active cases in New Zealand, 10,305 of which are in the Canterbury/West Coast DHB area.

Bloomfield said the burden on the health system was not unexpected but has appeared earlier in the winter season compared to previous years, particularly with the early flu peak.

"I can assure you ... that all parts of the system are working together on a daily basis to make sure that we respond to those pressures and the public can be confident that if they or their loved ones need urgent, hospital-level care, they will receive it and it will be delivered professionally."

'There is still a global pandemic'

With Covid cases expected to rise in coming weeks, Bloomfield called on people to take simple steps to protect themselves - get vaccinated including booster shots, wear masks and stay home if unwell.

Bloomfield encouraged those who were organising events to think carefully about the measures they could put in place to protect people, and advised people not to attend if they were sick.

He also strongly recommended schools introduce mask wearing for the first four weeks of the new term.

We need to "keep our wits about us" as sub variants spread overseas, he warned, as there was always a chance of a more severe variant of Covid emerging in New Zealand.

"There is still a global pandemic; it's not what's just happening in New Zealand, it's about what's happening globally.

"We're not out of the woods yet."

Bloomfield said around 72 per cent of people have had the first booster shot, and so far the uptake of the second booster had been good. About 30 per cent of those eligible have already had it.

Bloomfield finishes in his role next week and said he was looking forward to a "good break". His own leaving event tonight had been pared back due to the current outbreak.

Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall announced last week that free masks and rapid antigen tests would be provided to all those who needed them in a bid to increase testing numbers and try to get people wearing masks at the orange setting.

This morning the Green Party announced it was scrapping its annual conference in Christchurch this weekend and would instead hold it online, saying it was in response to the Covid surge and concerns people would get infected at the conference.

Meningococcal cases

There have also been 22 meningococcal cases recorded, but at this stage, there is not an outbreak of the disease.

However, Bloomfield warned that the disease is severe and can lead to death.

Change in how deaths reported

Public Health deputy director-general Dr Andrew Old said the agency will now report Covid deaths as people who died because of the virus or as a contributor.

Until now, all deaths where someone has died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 result are reported, as had been done by other countries.

This updated approach would come into effect on the Ministry of Health's website from Friday and would be how the figures are reported to the World Health Organisation.

As of yesterday, there had been 1784 deaths overall – 772 were due to Covid-19 and Covid was considered a contributing factor in a further 414. A total of 345 were not related to Covid and 286 deaths were yet to be classified.

Dr Old said the actual number of deaths using the new formula was 1252 cases where Covid-19 was the underlying or contributing factor to their death.

The ministry is also now reporting an additional 69 deaths within 28 days of having the virus.

These were cases that had Covid-19 but were not reported as deaths initially. All of the deaths have occurred since March 23.

Current situation

*This total differs to the number of announced COVID-19 deaths (1870) as the latter includes deaths that occurred more than 28 days after a case was reported.

Case details

-Star News, NZ Herald, RNZ