Originally published by Māori Television
ANALYSIS:
As Aotearoa's number of Delta cases passed the 7000 mark, a total of 204 new Delta cases were reported on November 22 [today's case numbers had not been released when this story was published].
Most new cases are in Auckland and the steady rise of new cases in Waikato (20), Northland (4), Bay of Plenty (5) and Lakes (1) is a considerable concern.
Māori comprise 105 of these new cases and the highest number of cases for the 50th consecutive day. The total number of Māori cases has now passed the 3000 mark.
The full Māori vaccination rate in each of these district health board regions ranges from 40 to 60 per cent, and the risk of transmission into other low-Māori vaccination DHBs is high, particularly when the Auckland border opens on December 15.
Six Māori have now died from Covid-19. The Ministry of Health says a man in his 40s died at Middlemore Hospital on Monday.
The Māori death rate is 1 in 138 resolved cases (either recovered or died) and this is 20 per cent higher than the national death rate of 1 in 173 resolved cases.
It's known that three of the Māori deaths were men aged 40–50 years. This corresponds with the risk profile of Māori, including underlying health conditions.
Māori are 3.7 times more likely to catch Delta, 2.3 times more likely to suffer severe sickness and be hospitalised, and 3.1 times more likely to die from Delta.
In another milestone, total Covid-19 cases since February last year passed the 10,000 mark today.
On Monday, the total number of Māori cases since Covid-19 arrived in Aotearoa passed the total for Pākehā, making Māori the highest affected demographic. As of today, there have been 3249 Māori Covid-19 cases compared to 3153 Pākehā.
September 22: Auckland moves from alert level 4 to alert level 3.
September 30: Māori cases pass the combined total of Pākehā, Asian and Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA).
October 5: Māori became the highest number of active cases.
October 7: Auckland moves to alert level 3 step 1. Māori surge leads to 50 consecutive days Māori highest cases.
November 2: Māori pass Pacific peoples as the ethnicity with the highest number of cases.
November 11: Auckland moves to alert level 3 step 2. Māori cases top 100 per day for seven days. Māori more than 50 per cent of all new cases every day since November 11.
November 21: Māori cases pass Pākehā cases as highest cases since the Covid-19 pandemic reached New Zealand in February last year.
Projecting the current seven-day rate of daily and Māori cases, there will be 13,200 total cases in the Delta outbreak by Christmas, 6400 of which will be Māori.
This projection is marginally lower than last week because of a lull in cases below 190 per day over the past six days. But this may well be the calm before the storm that begins on December 15.
Kia haumaru te noho, stay safe.
OPINION: Once proud and hard-working, most Māori have no meaningful mahi.