Covid-19 update: Weekly average case numbers drop to pre-December levels

The number of Covid-19 cases in the Rotorua Lakes District has dropped significantly after hitting a five-month peak in December.

The news comes as the new Omicron subvariant dubbed “Kraken” has been detected in New Zealand for the first time, according to the Ministry of Health.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Lakes says the rolling seven-day average of Covid-19 case numbers locally has dropped to 61.

This is the lowest seven-day average since November 27.

As of midnight on Sunday, four people were hospitalised with the virus in the Lakes District and one person had died.

Nationally, the Ministry of Health recorded 21,685 new cases in the past week, with 2227 cases on January 7 alone. As of Sunday, there were 395 people in hospital with Covid-19 across the country.

There were 53 deaths reported in the last seven days, including one from the Lakes District.

The news comes after local Covid-19 cases peaked on December 5, when 161 cases were recorded on a single day, the district’s highest number of new cases since July 27.

On December 19, it was reported there had been 42,740 new cases nationally over the previous seven-day period, making it the worst week of infections in the third wave of the Omicron outbreak.

University of Auckland associate professor and microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles said she did not know whether New Zealand was in a lull between waves “just yet”.

“Covid is all around us and whether we’re in a wave or not there are still people getting Covid every day and there are hospitalisations and deaths every week,” Wiles said.

“Whether you’re in a wave or a lull between waves I’d still be encouraging wearing masks in indoor spaces, making environments safer for those who are immunocompromised.”

Wiles said there were many variants of the virus in circulation but one in particular, known as XBB.1.5 or Kraken, was emerging as the dominant variant in the United States.

“When you look at the sequence of [Kraken] it’s got several mutations,” Wiles said.

“It looks more likely to reinfect people and it has some mutations that look like it would allow it to enter human cells more easily, so it is also possibly more infectious.

“We’re waiting to see what happens in the US and if it comes here we may see another wave.”

University of Auckland associate professor and microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles. Photo / Natalie Slade

Wiles said it was “hard to say” what was going to happen if Kraken became a dominant variant in New Zealand.

“But we do know that measures like mask-wearing and ventilation do work. We have all the tools at our disposal. We just have to use them.”

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said that at this stage cases and hospitalisations were expected to remain stable or decrease slightly in the coming weeks.

‘’However, with the mix of variant circulating, shifting levels of immunity in the population and changes in behaviour associated with people returning from holidays, there remains a high level of uncertainty.

‘’The current vaccines continue to reduce the risk of severe disease if you are infected with any of the subvariants currently circulating.’’

The spokesperson said anyone who tested positive for Covid-19 needed to stay home and isolate.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued last week, the Government issued advice to international travellers to test if they have Covid-19 symptoms when they arrive in New Zealand.

“This follows growing global concerns, including from the World Health Organisation about the lack of reliable data on case numbers in China and their work to address this,” the statement said.

“In response, officials have done a public health risk assessment including working through scenarios of potential case numbers among travellers from China. This confirmed these visitors will not contribute significantly to our Covid-19 case numbers, meaning entry restrictions are not required or justified.”

The statement said there was a minimal public health risk to New Zealand.