Region’s Covid death toll edging near 100

Covid-19 may have slipped off the radar for most of us this summer, but people in Taranaki are still dying from the virus.

The number of Covid deaths in the region is now approaching the 100 mark.

Two people died over the Christmas period and there were seven deaths during two weeks in January, bringing the total deaths in Taranaki from Covid to 93.

Te Whatu Ora Taranaki interim chief operating officer Wendy Langlands said she could not comment on the deaths other than to confirm the number.

‘‘Taranaki experienced a steady increase in Covid-19 reported cases leading up to Christmas which then peaked and has since been in decline through January.

‘‘There hasn’t been a significant spike other than a slight raise for a period of a week in mid-january, with a gradual decline in reported cases since then.’’

The first death in the region was reported on March 24 last year, the second on April 6 and the third on April 11. The fourth was reported 10 days later on April 21.

And the number kept jumping up. On May 20, the death toll had increased to 25, and by June 16 there had been 36 deaths.

Just over three weeks later there had been 50 deaths. By the beginning of September that had risen to 75, and by November there had been 83.

From January 1 to January 28 this year, 1873 cases of Covid-19 were reported, giving a seven-day rolling average of 56 reported cases per day.

There were four people in Taranaki Base Hospital with Covid-19 on Monday, Langlands said.

The number of people in hospital in the holiday break ending on January 3 peaked at 12.

As at January 30, 54,417 people in Taranaki had had the virus and 53,942 had recovered.

There were 390 reported cases of Covid-19 in the last seven-day reporting period from January 22 to 28.

And 382 people in Taranaki have the virus.

When Covid first hit in March last year the Ministry of Health was supplying figures every day, but as the pandemic continued it changed to reporting once a week.

Nationally, there were 10,589 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa over the past week.

As of midnight on Sunday, 189 people were in hospital with the virus, four of whom were in intensive or high dependency care units.

‘‘Taranaki experienced a steady increase in Covid-19 reported cases leading up to Christmas which then peaked and has since been in decline through January.’’ Wendy Langlands Te Whatu Ora Taranaki interim chief operating officer