New Zealand / Covid 19

Covid-19 update: 3816 new cases, 17 deaths attributed to virus

14:57 pm on 16 October 2023

Photo: 123rf.com - RNZ / Composite Image - RNZ

There have been 3816 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week, and 17 further deaths attributed to the virus.

Of the new cases, 1735 were reinfections.

At midnight on Sunday 15 October, 243 cases were in hospital and two in intensive care.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases was 544 per day, up from 510 last week.

Last week, Te Whatu Ora reported 3571 new cases and 15 further deaths.

On Monday's episode of The Detail, University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said Covid-19 has not gone away.

"It's our number one infectious disease threat... it's really displaced influenza as our biggest single infectious disease killer."

And Baker warned the number of reported cases are probably well behind what's actually out there.

"[There are] 3500 or so reported cases every week, but we know that will be at best 50 percent of the cases in the community... maybe less than that... so we're still looking at about 10,000 cases probably a week at least."