Another 29 people have died with Covid-19 and there are 11,464 new community cases in the country today, the Ministry of Health says.
Photo: AFP / Science Photo Library
There are 729 people in hospital, including 18 in intensive care or a high dependency unit. In the last few days the number of people with Covid-19 needing hospital care has climbed sharply.
The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 9710.
"Today's reported deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1737 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 19," the ministry said.
"Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today: Seven were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Tairawhiti, two were from Taranaki, one was from Hawkes Bay, one was from MidCentral, two were from the Wellington region, two were from Canterbury, two were from South Canterbury, and eight were from Southern.
"One was in their 50s, one was in their 60s, seven were in their 70s, ten were in their 80s and ten were aged over 90. Of these people, 15 were women and 14 were men."
There were 710 people in hospital, including 17 in ICU or a HDU, the ministry said yesterday. The same time last week 493 people were in hospital.
Another 19 people had died and there were 11,548 new community cases yesterday.
Meanwhile, an RNZ investigation has revealed that early 85 percent of classrooms across the country don't have their own carbon dioxide monitors, potentially increasing the risk of students catching Covid-19.
High levels of carbon dioxide in a space can indicate poor ventilation and an environment where aerosol particles from people's breath can linger, increasing infection risk if someone in the room is sick.
High levels of carbon dioxide in a space can indicate poor ventilation and an environment where aerosol particles from people's breath can linger, increasing infection risk if someone in the room is sick.
The 'Whose Breath Are You Breathing?' project tested carbon dioxide levels in a typical intermediate school classroom and revealed that on a cold day when windows were shut, CO2 levels inside reached 1373 parts per million - much higher than Ministry of Education guidelines.