Signs of Covid waning in parts of South

COVID19 might be loosening its grip on the South slightly after active case numbers fell by as much as 28% in some regions during the past week.

However, health authorities warn the pandemic is far from over and wastewater testing suggests infection rates remain high.

A further 654 new Covid19 cases were reported in the Southern District Health Board region yesterday, the thirdlowest daily case number in the past fortnight, albeit one which reflects lower testing reporting rates over the weekend.

There were 5334 active cases in Otago and Southland yesterday, down 15% from the 6287 cases the previous Monday.

Active cases across the region peaked at 8807 on March 25.

Apart from Dunedin, active case numbers in all other regions had dropped by between 13% and 28% in the past week.

Southland, where a fortnight ago new cases were about 100 a day, recorded 37 new cases yesterday, and its active cases had dropped from 544 a week ago to 389 yesterday, a 28% fall.

Queenstown Lakes, where the Omicron wave in the South began, has also recorded a significant drop in active cases, down 22% from 887 last Monday to 684 this Monday.

Waitaki (25%), Gore (22%) and Central Otago (18%) also recorded significant drops in active cases, although case numbers in those regions were lower than the major centres.

Invercargill, a Covid hot spot a fortnight ago, recorded 111 new cases yesterday: its 1013 active cases were down 15% from last Monday’s 1197.

There were 295 new cases recorded in Dunedin yesterday, but that was only marginally down on last Monday’s 306 new cases.

Active cases are also declining slowly in Dunedin, a 6.5% fall from 2369 to 2214 in the past seven days.

SDHB Covid19 response lead Dr Hywel Lloyd said it was true Rat reporting rates had fallen markedly, but said wastewater testing had been at a plateau for some weeks and had not fallen.

‘‘There has been very little dropoff in any of the areas where we do wastewater analysis and we have remained really quite high in some of them,’’ Dr Lloyd said.

‘‘While I’d love to say that it [Covid] is waning a touch, the wastewater numbers indicate that we still have a long way to go yet.’’

Dr Lloyd said testing made health authorities question how reliable a reflection Rats were of how many people in the community had Covid19.

‘‘Dunedin in particular, the wastewater numbers are particularly high, and our hospital admissions numbers are also remaining high.’’

There were 30 southerners who had Covid19 in hospital yesterday.

Of those, 18 (two in intensive care) were in Dunedin Hospital, 11 in Southland Hospital, and one apiece in Dunstan and Lakes hospitals.

Nationally, 6407 new community cases of Covid19 were reported yesterday, Southern remaining the thirdmost afflicted region behind Auckland and Canterbury.