6 May 2022

Covid-19 update: 24 further deaths, 7347 new cases

1:07 pm on 6 May 2022

There have been 7347 new cases of Covid-19 in the community and 24 further deaths reported today.

coronavirus concept. Generic respiratory virus, concept of infection and prevention, health. 3d render.

Photo: 123RF

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 363 people were in hospital with Covid-19, down from 386 yesterday, with 18 people in ICU, up from 14 yesterday.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers is 7555 - slightly up from 7540 last week.

The deaths being reported today include people who have died since 6 April and take the total number of deaths of people with Covid-19 in New Zealand to 845.

Two people were in their 40s; one in their 50s, one in their 60s; seven in their 70s; eight in their 80s and five were aged over 90. Thirteen were female and 11 were male.

One person was from Northland, eight from Auckland; four from Waikato; one from Bay of Plenty; one from Lakes DHB area; one from Taranaki; one from MidCentral; two from the Greater Wellington region; two from Canterbury and three from Southern.

Yesterday saw 8609 cases reported in and 20 deaths, including that of a child under the age of 10.

Today's community cases were reported in the Northland (234), Auckland (2346), Waikato (443), Bay of Plenty (189), Lakes (106), Hawke's Bay (212), MidCentral (272), Whanganui (83), Taranaki (226), Tairāwhiti (66), Wairarapa (100), Capital and Coast (482), Hutt Valley (185), Nelson Marlborough (254), Canterbury (1261), South Canterbury (99), Southern (721) and West Coast (64) DHBs.

There were also 79 cases reported at the border today.

There have now been 973,797 cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) report yesterday revealed that almost three times as many people had died of Covid-19 as official data showed.

The report showed there had been 14.9 million excess deaths associated with the virus by the end of 2021.

This was in stark contrast to the UN body's official count of deaths directly attributed to Covid-19 between January 2020 and December 2021, which stood at slightly more than 5.4 million.

The WHO's excess mortality figures reflect people who died of Covid-19 as well as those who died as an indirect result of the outbreak, including people who could not access healthcare for other conditions when systems were overwhelmed during huge waves of infection.

It also accounts for deaths averted during the pandemic, for example because of the lower risk of traffic accidents during lockdowns.

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