There’s been a spike in new Covid-19 infections following the Matariki long weekend, the Ministry of Health has announced.
Another 8,028 cases have been reported, almost double the number announced in recent days. It’s also pushed up the seven-day rolling average of new community cases, which today sits at 5,480 compared with 4,878 last Tuesday.
However, the ministry said it was not “unusual” to see a spike such as this after a long weekend. “It will take more time before we are able to determine if this is part of a trend,” said a spokesperson.
There have been 16 more deaths of people with Covid-19, including a person aged between 10 and 19 years-old. All of the latest deaths occurred over the last week.
It takes the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1,488 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 12.
There are now 383 people in hospital with Covid-19, including seven in intensive care.
Covid Tracer app to ‘evolve’ in line with pandemic response
The ministry has also announced an update to the Covid-19 Tracer app that will see it lose the registration function.
While the app was a major part of our early pandemic response, it is no longer mandatory to use it and as such user numbers have rapidly dropped off in recent months.
Shayne Hunter, deputy director general of data and digital at the ministry, said while the app will still work, the personal information shared by people when they registered will now be deleted. “This is also part of our commitment to protect people’s personal data and it’s important to reassure people that contact tracers can still use other data sources if needed,” he said.