Gisborne records two more Covid deaths

Gisborne has lost two more people to Covid-19 as the country continues to experience a fifth wave of the virus.

The latest Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora figures, released yesterday, show 38 deaths were recorded nationwide in the week ending January 14, including the first Tairāwhiti fatality for some months.

But the figures also show a total of 41 Tairāwhiti deaths since Covid-19 broke out, which is two up from last week’s figure of 39 deaths.

The Te Whatu Ora report explains that the death figures also include deaths that occurred between December 23 and January 2024 which were “not able to be previously attributed due to a break in cause-of-death coding over the holiday period”.

There are 104 active cases in Tairāwhiti compared to 68 in the previous week.

The total number of cases recorded in the region is 26,034.

There are 8020 cases across the country compared to 6554 during the previous week, while the total number of deaths is now 3722, up 77 from the previous week.

There are 324 people in hospital, including six in ICU, as at midnight on Saturday.

The total number of cases since the pandemic began in early 2020 is 2,562,053.

Of the 38 deaths announced yesterday, 12 were from Auckland, five from Waikato, one from Bay of Plenty, one from Rotorua-Taupō, one from Tairāwhiti, three from Manawatū, two from Whanganui, three from Wellington region, five from Canterbury and five from Otago-Southland.

Two were in their 50s, two were in their 60s, 10 were in their 70s, 14 were in their 80s and 10 were aged over 90; of these people, 19 were women and 18 were men.

More than 1300 Kiwis died of Covid-19 last year. That is about a third of all Covid deaths and is nearly four times the annual road toll.

Last April, Professor Michael Baker believed some 1000 Kiwis could die from Covid-19 in 2023, while 10,000 could be hospitalised with the virus.

That proved to be an undercount.

This will be New Zealand’s third year of the virus spreading freely in the community, with most Kiwis now having had both multiple vaccinations and Covid-19 itself.

Professor Baker told the NZ Herald that fewer deaths might be expected this year, if only because widespread transmission had reduced the pool of at-risk people.

“Mortality has been displaced or brought forward by exposure to this virus, and it means that many frail elderly people have died already and that vulnerable population has got smaller,” he said.

The scale of our current fifth wave — likely to cause hundreds more hospitalisations and thousands more infections before the end of summer — had caused him to reassess what might play out in 2024.

“This wave appears to have been more intense than our fourth, around last April, which makes me think that maybe last year is what things will look like in the future.

“The latest wave has brought a five- to six-fold jump in people seeking boosters, which are freely available to everyone aged over 30, and those aged 16 and over who were pregnant, and those aged 12 to 29 who were at higher risk of severe illness.”

Immunisation Advisory Centre medical director Dr Nikki Turner told the NZ Herald that people needed to keep taking vaccines

““After you’ve been vaccinated, immunity does wane — but it does wane quicker for (protection against) mild disease than for severe disease,” she said.

“So, if you’ve had a booster, you’re still well protected for at least six months against severe disease and ending up in hospital.”

As Covid-19 hadn’t yet fallen into a seasonal pattern like other respiratory diseases, Turner said the current strategy remained focused on recommending boosting for at-risk people every six months.

“There are huge rates of Covid-19 around at the moment, so if you’re at high risk, you shouldn’t be delaying and waiting for the next vaccine because the current one is still working well.”