18 Mar 2022

Covid-19 update: 14,128 community cases, 943 people in hospital, five more deaths

1:53 pm on 18 March 2022

There are 14,128 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today and 943 people in hospital, according to the Ministry of Health.

rapid antigen tests

Rapid antigen tests. Photo: Unsplash / Jan Kopřiva

There are 25 people in intensive care and five more deaths have been formally reported.

The five people who have died include two from Auckland, one from Waikato, one from Canterbury, and one from the Hutt Valley. One was in their 50s, two in their 70s and two in their 80s. Two were women and three were men.

The total number of deaths of people with Covid-19 in New Zealand is 156.

Speaking at today's Covid-19 update, Northern Region Health Coordination Centre associate chief clinical officer Dr Anthony Jordan said 3498 of today's cases are in Auckland, down from 4867 yesterday.

The remaining cases are in the Northland (536), Waikato (1333), Bay of Plenty (956), Lakes (416), Hawke's Bay (841), MidCentral (599), Whanganui (205), Taranaki (470), Tairāwhiti (232), Wairarapa (164), Capital and Coast (906), Hutt Valley (549), Nelson Marlborough (416), Canterbury (1937), South Canterbury (135), Southern (890) and West Coast (39) DHBs.

There were also 18 cases identified at the border yesterday.

Ten deaths - including a person in their 30s - were reported in yesterday's Ministry of Health Covid-19 statistics, along with 19,566 new cases.

The seven day rolling average of new community cases is now 17,673 and there have now been 451,537 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

There were 5335 doses of the booster vaccine given in New Zealand yesterday, as well as 290 first doses; 513 second doses; 39 third primary doses; 370 paediatric first doses and 4272 paediatric second doses.

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