13 Sep 2022

Covid-19 update: 1941 new community cases, 241 people in hospital

1:14 pm on 13 September 2022
Covid-19 antigen tests underway with the buffer solution being dripped into the test area of the results strip

Photo: 123RF

There are 1941 new community cases of Covid-19 to report today, the Ministry of Health says.

In a statement, the ministry said there were also 241 people in hospital, including three in ICU.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 1468. Last Tuesday, it was 1719.

The seven-day rolling average of hospitalisations today is 236. Last Tuesday, it was 267.

The location of the 241 hospitalisations were in Northland: 1; Waitematā: 46; Counties Manukau: 22; Auckland: 48; Waikato: 18; Bay of Plenty: 5; Lakes: 1; Hawke's Bay: 2; MidCentral: 7; Whanganui: 0; Taranaki: 3; Tairawhiti: 0; Wairarapa: 7; Capital & Coast: 15; Hutt Valley: 9; Nelson Marlborough: 5; Canterbury: 41; West Coast: 1; South Canterbury: 1 and Southern: 9.

The average age of current Covid-19 hospitalisations is 63.

On Covid-19 deaths, the ministry said there were now a total of 1962 deaths confirmed as attributable to the virus, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor.

In the past seven days, there have been an average of four deaths confirmed each day as being attributable to Covid-19.

There were also 78 new Covid cases to report at the border today.

From today the Covid-19 traffic light settings have been dropped, and masks are required only in health and aged care settings.

The government's vaccine mandates will end in two weeks.

Covid-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall earlier said the risk from Covid-19 was not what it was.

Verrall told Nine to Noon that the difficult decisions were around dropping mask mandates on public transport, but the advice still recommended their use.

Otago University epidemiologist Michael Baker said as community cases in the country dropped, travellers were likely to become the main spreaders of the virus.

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