Two more Covid deaths and two new BA.5 cases
A further two Covid-related deaths were reported by health authorities yesterday along with 6407 Covid-19 cases and 368 hospitalisations, including 18 cases who were in ICU.
Both deaths reported yesterday were males in their 80s.
One person came from the Wairarapa and one from Whanganui.
“This is a very sad time for whānau and friends and our thoughts and condolences are with them at this time,” the Ministry of Health said.
The seven-day rolling average for Covid-19 case numbers yesterday was 7479. Last Monday it was 7553.
University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker said new Covid-19 subvariants were among several factors that could push Covid-19 case numbers up this winter.
Baker told RNZ that he expected case numbers to rise over the coming months, which would result in increased hospitalisations and deaths.
Yesterday, a further two people who had travelled from overseas to New Zealand had been confirmed as having the BA.5 Omicron variant.
There are now three people who are confirmed as having the variant, all of whom travelled from South Africa.
Baker said the variant had “taken over the world”.
“[In New Zealand] we saw the original BA.1 has now been replaced by BA.2, and we would expect to see more dominant — or we would say ‘fitter’ — variants gradually take over from the ones before. This is natural selection taking place before our very eyes,” said Baker.
“If a variant becomes more common . . . we can say yes, it’s got a competitive advantage. The other effect is whether it’s more severe — but that takes a very long time to find out and there are so many factors that affect that.”