Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: 2244 new cases, 17 deaths, 288 people in hospital

There are 2244 new cases of Covid-19 and another 17 deaths related to the virus, the Ministry of Health reported in its latest update today.

There are 288 people in hospital with the virus, including two in intensive care.

It is the lowest number of people in hospital and intensive care reported in months.

The last time there were just two people with Covid in ICU was at the start of the Omicron outbreak on February 24.

Of those whose deaths are recorded in today's figures, one person was in their 50s, two were in their 70s, two were in their 80s and 12 were aged over 90.

Nine were women and eight were men.

Two were from Auckland, three were from Waikato, one was from Hawke's Bay, one was from Taranaki, one was from Whanganui, three were from Wellington region, four were from Canterbury, one was from West Coast and one person was from the Southern region.

Of those in hospital, the locations are: Northland (six), Waitematā (47), Counties Manukau (21), Auckland (47), Waikato (46), Bay of Plenty (six), Lakes (five), Hawke's Bay (seven), MidCentral (13), Whanganui (one), Taranaki (two), Wairarapa (three), Capital & Coast (17), Hutt Valley (seven), Nelson Marlborough (four), Canterbury (42), West Coast (one), South Canterbury (five) and Southern (eight).

The seven-day rolling average of cases today is 2122; last Wednesday it was 3303.

The average of hospitalisations today is 326 while last Wednesday it was 436.

There are now a total of 1893 deaths confirmed as attributable to Covid-19 (either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor). In the past seven days there have been an average of seven deaths confirmed each day as being attributable to the virus.

"This is a very sad time for whānau and friends of those who have died and our thoughts and condolences are with them," a ministry spokesperson said.

Covid-19 has become a leading cause of death in New Zealand, but the seemingly simple question, "How many people have died of Covid-19?" doesn't have a simple answer, NZME newsroom's head of data Chris Knox explains.

The latest data gathered by the Herald shows that in the week ending on August 21, 56 deaths were attributable to Covid-19 and 96 people died with the virus.

A month prior, on the week ending on August 31, these figures peaked at 115 deaths attributable to Covid-19 and 227 deaths reported with the virus.

Covid deaths in New Zealand started to increase when Omicron first hit the country in February this year. They then spiked again over June and July when a second wave of the variant began to spread.

On average 627 people die each week in New Zealand - on the week ending on August 14, deaths with and attributable to Covid made up for nearly 30 per cent of the weekly death rate.

For the week ending on July 31, Covid deaths made up for nearly 40 per cent of the weekly death rate.

New Zealand now reports Covid-19 deaths using two separate but over lapping categories: the number of people who have died with Covid-19 and the number of people who have died of Covid-19.