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In his latest media briefing as Director General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield said that Covid-19 case rates were trending downward in all regions of New Zealand and that the “worst-case scenario” was now unlikely ” previously modeled is fulfilled.<\/p>\n
Bloomfield gave the update on the state of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The drop in Covid-19 cases was also seen in sewage results and test positivity rates for people admitted to hospital in the week to 24 July.<\/p>\n
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SUNGMI KIM\/Things<\/p>\n Dr Ashley Bloomfield is stepping down as Director General of Health on Friday.<\/p>\n He said the case rate of reported test results had decreased by about 12% compared to the previous week.<\/p>\n READ MORE: “Pleasantly,” the case rate was declining among the over-65s, who have had the highest case rates in this outbreak.<\/p>\n Similarly, the hospitalization rate had also dipped at the end of last week, but picked up a bit, rising again over the weekend.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, there were 8730 new community cases and 808 people hospitalized with the virus.<\/p>\n Initially, Covid-19 Modeling Aotearoa’s modeling of the possible size of the BA.5 wave had the “worst case scenario” with a peak of 20,000 cases per day and 1,200 occupied hospital beds.<\/p>\n That now looked “highly unlikely”, which Bloomfield said he was sure “we are all relieved to see”.<\/p>\n While there was still the possibility that hospital occupancy could reach more than 1,000 beds, Aotearoa was approaching a peak of 850 hospitalizations.<\/p>\n Bloomfield said hospitalizations tended to trail a week behind cases, which had been declining.<\/p>\n Part of this was likely related to international evidence suggesting that previous Covid-19 infections, specifically with the Omicron variant, provided stronger than expected protection against BA.5.<\/p>\n The modeling also took into account updated data on uptake of the second booster and expected future uptake.<\/p>\n Bloomfield said BA.5 remained the dominant variant in the community. From July 18, just over 60% of cases were BA.5. <\/a><\/p>\n Ricky Wilson\/Things<\/p>\n Community Covid-19 case rates are trending downward in all regions of Aotearoa, Health Director General Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Wednesday. (File photo)<\/p>\n Officials expected the prevalence of BA.5 to increase and that New Zealand would see “almost complete takeover” by early August.<\/p>\n Bloomfield also highlighted some preliminary analysis of deaths attributed to Covid-19, showing “compellingly” how getting fit was “one of the most important things you can do to reduce your risk of death”.<\/p>\n People who had not received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were six times more likely to die if they got Covid-19 than someone who had received at least one booster dose, when adjusted for all other factors.<\/p>\n For people under 60, that risk was even greater, more than 13 times greater for those who were unvaccinated or had less than two doses, compared to someone who received a booster.<\/p>\n Many of those who had died under the age of 60 had underlying health problems and the boost was “particularly vital” for those people, he said.<\/p>\n
* Covid-19 NZ: What’s happening with the current Omicron wave?
* Covid-19: Officials are changing the way deaths are reported, here’s how
* Covid-19 NZ: The coronavirus pandemic will never end (but it’s changing)
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