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Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)

SocietyMay 4, 2020

Covid-19: New Zealand cases mapped and charted, May 4

Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield (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.

I have been collating these afternoon updates for over month. Today I get to write the words that I have been waiting to share since day one.

There are no new cases of Covid-19 to report.

This afternoon’s Ministry of Health figures report that the total number of confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases is unchanged at 1,487 (1,137 confirmed and 350 probable). This is the first day since March 16 with no new cases, although one probable case was changed to confirmed. A total of 1,276 people have recovered which is an increase of ten since yesterday. No deaths related to Covid-19 were reported overnight.

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 four people in hospital, which is a decrease of four since yesterday. There are no known Covid-19 cases in intensive care units.

Yesterday, 2,473 tests were processed. The ministry reported averaging 4,111 Covid-19 lab tests per day during the week ending May 3. A total of 152,696 lab tests have been conducted since January 22. There are 64,988 test supplies in stock, down from 58,614 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.

This table shows the number of active cases, recovered people and deaths in each area. Whanganui, Wairarapa, Tairāwhiti and West Coast continue to have no active cases. The largest number of active cases are in Waitamatā (33), Waikato (33), Canterbury (29), and Auckland (26).

You can sort the table’s rows by clicking on the column titles.

The symbol map shows confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases arranged by district health board. In keeping with the lack of new cases, there is no change in regional counts. Waitematā (no change at 228), Southern (no change at 216), Waikato (no change at 186) and Auckland (no change at 178) are 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 Margaret’s 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. Two clusters buck this trend. The only exception is the Rosewood aged care cluster in Christchurch where there are equal numbers of active and 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.

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!