Today we are reporting 8,395 community cases, 689 current hospitalisations, and 17 deaths. The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 9,279.
Today we are sadly reporting the deaths of 17 people with COVID-19. All these deaths occurred in the past 13 days. The Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ are closely monitoring the steady increase in Covid-19 positive hospitalisations as part of our ongoing review and updating of the response to the current community outbreak.
The increase in hospitalisations also emphasises the importance of everybody doing the basics well to help New Zealand get through winter in good shape.
In particular, people should stay home if they are unwell, take a rapid antigen test (RAT) and upload the result on MyCovidRecord, and isolate if positive or while still symptomatic.