Another 16 people with Covid-19 have died and there are 4489 new community cases, the Ministry of Health has reported today.
Photo: AFP
There are 496 people in hospital, 13 of them are in a high dependency unit
Yesterday the ministry reported another 21 people with Covid-19 had died and there were 533 people in hospital, including 12 in intensive care or a high dependency unit.
Deputy-Director General and Public Health Agency head Dr Andrew Old told media this afternoon that modelling from Covid Modelling Aotearoa showed New Zealand was continuing to track at the lower end of what was expected in terms of a second wave this winter.
"We passed a peak in cases earlier that the modelling suggested and now hospitalisations are also declining suggesting these too have peaked. It's sitting somewhere between 800 and 850 occupied beds across the country in late July."
Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand interim national medical director Dr Pete Watson said the recent drop in Covid-19 cases was an encouraging trend.
"By each one of us sticking to public health measures we are making a difference," he said.
"This is despite the fact that over this winter we and our health system have faced a really huge set of challenges. Never before has Aotearoa been tasked with managing such a high number of Covid-19 cases alongside a really big number of influenza, as well as other winter illnesses."
He said the high demand on health services had seen a major impact on its workforces and thanked them for the work.
The health sector, he said, had successfully planned for a challenging winter.
"But with cases of Covid-19, influenza and other winter respiratory illnesses now signalling encouraging signs of downward trend, some of the pressure on our health system will start to ease," he said.