Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Canterbury has highest active cases in New Zealand

Name: Focus: Covid Outbreak | Saturday 19th March Wrap
Uploaded: 2022-03-19T14:59:25+13:00
Description: March 19 2022 Ten more people have died and there are 18,514 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today.

By Devon Bolger

Digital producer, Christchurch, NZ Herald·NZ Herald·

18 Mar, 2022 01:35 AM2 mins to read

March 19 2022 Ten more people have died and there are 18,514 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today.

The Canterbury District Health Board area now has the highest number of community cases in the country.

Data from the Ministry of Health shows as of Friday, there are 15,067 active cases in the region.

That is followed by the Counties Manukau (13,739), Waitematā (11,716) and Waikato (11,703) DHBs.

The Canterbury DHB has reported 2172 new cases of Covid-19 in the region today. That is down from 2494 on Thursday,

A total of 2403 new cases were reported on Wednesday, lower than the record 2642 cases reported on Tuesday.

All of the five other district health boards in the South Island have a decrease in cases today compared with the day before - meaning the virus may have peaked in the south.

The Southern DHB recorded 890 new cases, Nelson-Marlborough 416, South Canterbury 135 and West Coast 39.

The South Island was behind parts of the rest of the country that have already passed the peak.

Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said this week Auckland had almost certainly passed its Omicron peak, and it seemed Waikato and Northland had too.

He said case and hospital data also suggested Taranaki, Lakes (in and around Rotorua) and Wellington's Capital and Coast health board regions had peaked or were peaking.

Northern Region Health Coordination Centre chief clinical officer Dr Andrew Old this week said case numbers in Auckland had continued to track downwards confirming the region had passed its peak for case numbers, which were expected to decline in coming weeks.

With new hospital admissions appearing to plateau, Old said he hoped hospitalisations would turn a corner over the next week.

However, pressure continues to mount at the region's hospitals with hospitalisation rates remaining high and staffing numbers below ideal levels.

Old said before Covid, DHBs in Auckland were already running about 15 per cent below ideal staffing levels because of issues such as vacancies and unplanned leave. This week staff levels were down by up to a further 10 per cent.