News and notices Pānui

More than 20,000 doses of vaccine given yesterday; 85 people in hospital - 6 in ICU; 167 community cases; 2 deaths

18 November 2021

The continued spread of COVID-19 to regions throughout New Zealand is a reminder that everyone needs to heed the advice that will help keep our communities as safe as possible.

That includes ensuring you and your loved ones are fully vaccinated if eligible, that you wear a mask, keep a safe distance from people outside your bubble, and keep track of your movements outside your home.

COVID-19 vaccine update  

• Total first and second vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people): 7,276,046: 3,819,221 first doses (91%); 3,456,825 second doses (82%)
• Total first and second vaccines administered yesterday: 20,408: 6,197 first doses; 14,211 second doses
• Māori (percentage of eligible people): 801,382: 445,283 first doses (78%); 356,099 second doses (62%)
• Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people): 475,435: 254,312 first doses (89%); 221,123 second doses (77%)
• Total first and second vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday: 4,482: 1,230 first doses; 3,252 second doses

Vaccination rates by DHB (with active cases)

• Northland DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (83%); second dose (73%)
• Auckland metro DHBs (percentage of eligible people): First dose (93%); second dose (86%)
• Waikato DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (89%); second dose (80%)
• Bay of Plenty DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (87%); second dose (76%)
• Lakes DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (85%); second dose (75%)
• Taranaki DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (88%); second dose (77%)
• MidCentral DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (90%); second dose (80%)
• Wairarapa DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (90%); second dose (80%)
• Canterbury DHB (percentage of eligible people): First dose (94%); second dose (83%)

Hospitalisations  

• Cases in hospital: 85 (down from 88 yesterday – includes 2 case being assessed); North Shore (19); Middlemore (26); Auckland (35); Waitakere (1); Whangarei (1); Waikato (3)
• Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only; excludes people still being assessed and the Waikato cases)*:  
• Average age of current hospitalisations: 51
• Cases in ICU or HDU: Six

Cases  

• Seven day rolling average of community cases: 191
• Number of new community cases **: 167
• Number of new cases identified at the border: One
• Location of new community cases: Northland (5), Auckland (140), Waikato (17), Bay of Plenty (1), Lakes (1), Canterbury (1)
• Location of community cases (total): Auckland 5,949 (2,019 of whom have recovered); Northland 54 (24 of whom have recovered); Waikato 282 (98 of whom have recovered); Bay of Plenty 1; Lakes 15; Taranaki 6; MidCentral 2; Wairarapa 2; Wellington 17 (all of whom have recovered);
• Nelson/Marlborough 1 (who has recovered); Canterbury 5 (3 of whom have recovered)
• Number of community cases (total): 6,334 (in current community outbreak)
• Confirmed cases (total): 9,090
• Historical cases *:  
• Cases infectious in the community: 48 of 157 cases reported yesterday have exposure events
• Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious: 109 of 157 cases reported yesterday have no exposure events
• Cases epidemiologically linked *:  
• Cases to be epidemiologically linked *:  
• Cases epidemiologically linked (total) *:  

Contacts  

• Number of active contacts being managed (total):: 5,866
• Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 70%
• Percentage who have returned at least one result: 52%

Locations of interest  

• Locations of interest (total): 99 (as at 12 noon 18 November)

Tests  

• Number of tests (total): 4,572,209
• Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 34,182
• Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours): 15,810
• Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 28,857
• Testing centres in Auckland: 18

Wastewater  

• Wastewater detections: There are no new unexpected detections

NZ COVID Tracer  

• Registered users (total): 3,376,977
• Poster scans (total): 512,805,014
• Manual diary entries (total): 20,320,961
• Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday: 2,605,037

My Vaccine Pass

• Passes issued as at 9am today: 300,392

* The Ministry of Health this morning experienced intermittent issues in accessing our COVID-19 database. While we have been able to retrieve high level numbers, some figures around contact tracing, vaccination statuses and infectious cases in the community are unavailable at this stage for today’s statement. This issue is being addressed and the normal updates will be uploaded to the Ministry’s website as soon as possible.

** One previously reported MIQ case has been reclassified as under investigation.

Deaths of two patients with COVID-19

Sadly, today we are reporting the deaths of two patients with COVID-19.

A woman in her 80s has died at Middlemore Hospital.

As is appropriate, no further information will be released until conversations with the woman’s family have concluded.

We are also reporting the death of a man in his 90s in North Shore Hospital. He had been living at the Edmonton Meadows Care Home.

The man had a number of underlying health conditions and was receiving appropriate ward-level care after being admitted earlier this month with COVID-19.

Our thoughts are with their families and friends at this deeply sad time.

My Vaccine Pass

My Vaccine Pass was switched on at 9am yesterday and came under early pressure when a large number of people across the country attempted to get their pass straight away.

The number of people attempting to get a pass caused some of the automated controls for restricting access to kick in.

These controls are designed to prevent the site being taken down in the event of a denial-of-service attack.

The site is now working well and by midnight last night around 200,000 My Vaccine Passes had been processed.

People unable to log in to My Covid Record are asked to please be patient – My Vaccine Pass will not be needed until we move to the COVID-19 Protection Framework.

Today’s cases

Today we are announcing new cases in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, MidCentral and Canterbury. A case announced in Lakes DHB yesterday is officially reported in today’s figures.

Information on these cases is included in the regional updates below.

Regional updates

Northland

There are five new cases in Northland; two in Dargaville, one in Whangārei, one in the Far North and one in Kaikohe. All of the cases are linked.

Cases of COVID-19 are widespread in Northland and we ask everyone in the region to remain vigilant.

Anyone with any COVID-19 symptoms is urged to get tested. Testing locations in Northland can be found on the Northland DHB website.

Vaccination is your best defence against COVID-19 and centres open in Northland today can be found on the Northland DHB website.

There were 776 swabs taken and 888 people vaccinated in Northland yesterday

Auckland

Today, there are 140 new cases to report in Auckland.

There are 18 community centres available for testing across Auckland today. The testing centres at Northcote, Balmoral, Wiri and Ōtara continue to operate extended hours to increase access to testing.

People in Auckland with symptoms, no matter how mild, are urged to get tested – even if they are vaccinated – and remain isolated until they return a negative result.

Public health staff are now supporting 5,010 people to isolate at home around Auckland - this includes 2,238 cases.

Rosaria Rest Home, Avondale    

Auckland Regional Public Health Service and Auckland DHB continue to provide support to the residents and staff at the Rosaria Rest Home, Avondale. Five residents have now tested positive for COVID-19.

Waikato update

Today there are 17 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Waikato.

A number of these cases were only confirmed this morning, therefore data on location and contact tracing information is still being gathered by public health staff.

There are also three cases receiving care at Waikato Hospital.

Yesterday there were 17 new locations of interest confirmed across Ōtorohanga, Te Awamutu, Te Kuiti, and Hamilton. The Ministry continues to urge people in Waikato to check the Ministry’s locations of interest page, for details about locations if, and when, they are identified.

Across the Waikato there are eight pop-up and dedicated testing centres operating today at Hamilton, Ōtorohanga, Huntly, Ngāruawāhia, and Te Kuiti and a new pop-up in Thames.

There were 3,055 tests processed in Waikato yesterday and 1,992 vaccinations given.

In the Waikato region, public health staff are supporting 290 people to isolate at home, including 81 cases and 209 contacts.

Bay of Plenty

Today we are announcing two new cases in the Bay of Plenty. One of these cases is in in Mount Maunganui and the other is in Tauranga. This Mt Maunganui case came in after the official 9am cut-off time for reporting and will be formally included in tomorrow’s figures.

This follows further positive detections of COVID-19 reported yesterday in wastewater samples in both Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.  

Interviews are continuing to determine case movements.  Any locations of interest will be added to the Ministry’s website as these are identified.

Everyone who lives in or has travelled to the region is asked to monitor locations of interest regularly and follow any advice given.  Anyone with COVID-19 related symptoms is asked to get tested as soon as possible – even if the symptoms are mild.

Testing locations can be found on the Healthpoint website.

COVID-19 testing centres in the Bay of Plenty are:

• Mount Maunganui Sports Centre - Cnr Maunganui & Hull Roads (10am – 6pm)
• Tauranga central-100 First Ave. Drive-through accessed via carpark next to Noel Leeming on Second Ave (8 am–4 pm, Monday – Friday)
• Tauranga Race Course (10am – 6pm Friday 19/11 and 10am – 4pm Saturday 20/11)
• Accident & Healthcare -19 Second Ave (8 am–6 pm, seven days)
• Whakatāne - Med Central Portacom, 52B King Street (10 am–4 pm, Monday – Saturday)
• Murupara, Koromiko Street (10 am–4 pm, Monday – Friday)

MidCentral

There are two new COVID-19 cases to announce in the MidCentral region today, taking the total in the region to four. These cases will be formally included in the region’s total tomorrow as notification of the cases was received after the morning cut-off.

This includes one case in the town of Ashhurst and one in Levin. Both people are likely to be linked to known cases.

The Ministry is encouraging testing for anyone with mild symptoms of COVID-19 across Horowhenua, Manawatū, and Tararua.  People are asked to check the locations on interest on the Ministry of Health’s website.

For more information on testing locations across the region, please go to Healthpoint and check out Midcentral DHB Facebook page.

Yesterday there were 587 tests and 1,007 vaccinations across the MidCentral region.

For a full list of vaccination centres in the MidCentral region, please visit Healthpoint.

Canterbury

There are two new cases of COVID-19 in Christchurch.

One of these cases was announced yesterday and is being officially added to our case numbers today.

The other is a household contact of the first case and is already in isolation. This second case will be added to the case tally tomorrow, as details came in after our usual cut-off period.

The Ministry continues to urge people in Canterbury to check the Ministry’s locations of interest page, for details about any locations if, and when, they are identified.

We also continue to advise passengers on flight NZ1295 from Auckland to Christchurch on Saturday 13 November to get a test today, if they haven’t already, and monitor for symptoms for the next 10 days, following the two current Christchurch cases travelling on the flight prior to testing positive.    

Meanwhile, additional capacity has been added to current community testing centres in Orchard Road and Pages Road in Christchurch – both are open 7 days a week. Details are available on the Canterbury DHB website.  

People can check if their GP can provide COVID-19 testing by calling them or via the Healthpoint website. There’s also plenty of capacity at all vaccination clinics in Canterbury.

The Drive Through Vaccination Clinic in Addington is open until 7.30pm every weeknight, and there’s a pop-up vaccination event in the car park at New World in Ferry Road today and tomorrow from midday until 6.30pm.

Yesterday in Canterbury there were 1,641 community tests processed and 2,919 vaccinations given.