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)

SocietyApril 26, 2020

Covid-19: New Zealand cases mapped and charted, April 26

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 stands at 1,470 (1,121 confirmed and 349 probable). There were four new confirmed cases and five more probable cases in the last 24 hours. A total of 1,142 people have recovered, an increase of 24 since yesterday. No deaths related to Covid-19 were announced today.

The number of significant clusters with 10 or more cases remains at 16. There are seven people in hospital, which is unchanged since yesterday. One of these people is in Middlemore’s intensive care unit.

Yesterday, 5,966 tests were processed. The ministry reported averaging 5,394 Covid-19 lab tests per day during the week ending 24 April. A total of 120,981 lab tests have been conducted since January 22. There are 73,099 test supplies in stock, down from 76,571 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 one to 220), Southern (no change at 216), Waikato (up one to 192) and Auckland (up one to 175) remain the four district health boards with the largest number of active cases.

Yesterday Waitamatā overtook Southern as the district health board with the most cases.

There are 16 significant clusters under investigation by the Ministry of Health. The only change overnight was a new case associated with one of the aged residential care facilities in Auckland. The ministry has not released formal counts associating deceased persons with clusters. Instead we compiled these numbers from ministry media releases about each case.

The chart highlights large differences between the clusters. For example, the Marist College cluster was one of the earliest and largest reported. Nearly everyone has recovered. In contrast, well over half the Rosewood aged residential home cases are still active and 10 people have sadly died.

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!