Director of health Ashley Bloomfield, who, on most days, reads the numbers that will define how the rest of this year plays out (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)
Director of health Ashley Bloomfield, who, on most days, reads the numbers that will define how the rest of this year plays out (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)

SocietyMay 3, 2020

Covid-19: New Zealand cases mapped and charted, May 3

Contributing writer
Director of health Ashley Bloomfield, who, on most days, reads the numbers that will define how the rest of this year plays out (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)
Director of health Ashley Bloomfield, who, on most days, reads the numbers that will define how the rest of this year plays out (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)

The latest in our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. David Garcia worked with Chris to create today’s charts.

This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members, with support from the Science Media Centre. 

These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early afternoon, which describe the situation at 9am on the day of release. These data visualisations are interactive so use your mouse or thumb to hover over each graph for more detail.

This afternoon’s Ministry of Health figures report that the total number of confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases increased by two to 1,487 (1,136 confirmed and 351 probable). This is the 15th consecutive day of single-digit increases. A total of 1,266 people have recovered which is an increase of three since yesterday. No deaths related to Covid-19 were reported overnight.

Both of today’s new cases were in Waitematā district health board.

The number of significant clusters with 10 or more cases remains at 16. In 13 of these clusters transmission is treated as still potentially ongoing, while three clusters have been closed. There are eight people in hospital which is an increase of three since yesterday. There are no known Covid-19 cases in intensive care units.

Yesterday, 4,634 tests were processed. The ministry reported averaging 4,177 Covid-19 lab tests per day during the week ending May 2. A total of 150,223 lab tests have been conducted since January 22. There are 65,977 test supplies in stock, up from 64,988 yesterday.

This chart compares active and recovered cases. Active cases are confirmed or probable cases of Covid-19 where the person has neither recovered nor died. Recovered cases are people who were once an active case, but are at least 10 days since onset and have not exhibited any symptoms for 48 hours.

The overall downward trend of active case counts that started around April 8 continues. Note how the blue curve is levelling off, while the purple bars continue to decline. This means there are very few new cases being reported while existing cases steadily recover.

The symbol map shows confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases arranged by district health board. In keeping with the relatively small number of new cases, there is minimal change in regional counts. Waitematā (up two to 228), Southern (no change at 216), Waikato (no change at 186) and Auckland (no change at 178) remain the four district health boards with the largest number of active cases.

Of New Zealand’s 16 significant clusters, 13 remain under investigation for ongoing transmission by the Ministry of Health. Three cases were associated with the St Margarets cluster overnight.

This chart shows the number of active, recovered and deaths associated with each cluster. The ministry has not released formal counts associating deceased persons with clusters. Instead, we compiled these numbers from ministry media releases about each case.

In most clusters, the number of recovered cases outweighs the number of active cases. Three clusters buck this trend. Both Auckland residential care facilities and the Rosewood aged care cluster in Christchurch all have more active than recovered cases.

Three of the significant clusters have been closed. Closing a cluster signifies that the ministry is confident there is no longer transmission of the virus within, or associated with the cluster. A cluster can be closed after 28 consecutive days pass since the most recent onset date of a reported case. This period corresponds to two incubation periods for the virus.

More Reading

    This chart shows cases by the date they were first entered into EpiSurv, ESR’s public health surveillance system. Note that the number of cases reported on a particular date may not match the number of cases reported in the last 24 hours. This is because the number of confirmed and probable cases reported in the last 24 hours includes cases that were entered on an earlier date as “under investigation” or “suspected” whose status has now been changed to confirmed or probable.

    Keep going!