Staff Reporter
Auckland, March 17, 2022
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has said that the number of Omicron cases in Auckland is on the way down but increasing rapidly in Wellington.
He said that there are 21,616 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, with 960 people in hospital, including 22 cases in ICU or High-dependency units. Of these, there were 559 people in the Northern region, with 233 persons aged over 70.
There are 6085 new cases in Auckland today, up from 4730 yesterday and 4509 on Sunday.
Dr Bloomfield said that while admissions are declining, the total number of people in hospitals with Covid-19 is continuing to increase. Peak hospitalisations lag behind peak case numbers by about a week, he said.
The shift in BA.2 variant
“We have seen an interesting shift to the Omicron BA.2 subvariant. This could help explain why we had more transmission than expected in the modelling. However, this could be in our favour because other places such New South Wales in Australia, and Scotland in the United Kingdom are seeing second outbreaks with the BA.2 variant,” he said.
Dr Bloomfield said that Scotland has 1800 people in hospital, the highest case rate in nearly two years compared to less than 1000 in New Zealand.
The government has changed the narrative- from ‘fully vaccinated’ to ‘maximum vaccination.’
“It is clear that protection against Omicron and hospitalisation wanes over time with just two doses. A report from the Northern Region on March 8, showed that just 16% of people admitted to the hospital had been given their booster shot more than two weeks earlier,” he said.
The spread in Wellington
Dr Bloomfield said that there are 1584 cases in Wellington and Coast DHB catchment area with 33 persons in 33 in the hospital.
“District Health Boards have good plans in place but the rise in Omicron cases will affect the delivery of normal health services,” he said and agreed that Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) are not as accurate as PCR tests.
People with symptoms should assume that they have Covid, he said.
The
Dr Ian Town, Chief Science Advisor to the government, said that while most people developing Covid are able to recover completely within a few days, some people may suffer up to 12 weeks, suffering from the ‘Long Covid’ phenomenon.
“The condition could include low energy, fatigue, shortness of breath and cough, headaches, low mood, difficulty in concentrating, cognitive impairment, ongoing chest pains, a racing pulse, joint pains, aches and pains, weakness in the muscle, ongoing changes to sense of taste or smell, and poor quality of sleep,” he said.
Dr Town said there is no specific treatment for this condition, but those affected must contact their GP for a consultation.
“We are not certain if Omicron is likely to lead to Long Covid. The Health Ministry is funding Victoria University in Wellington to study the short and long-term impact of Covid-19 in New Zealand. It will examine the experience within families and people with disabilities,” he said.
Chief Allied Health Officer Martin Chadwick has been appointed as Chairman of an Expert Advisory Group to provide advice and support to healthcare practitioners.
