Almost 18,000 vaccine doses administered yesterday; 145 cases; 1 death; 77 people in hospital – 8 people in ICU

There were 17,899 first and second vaccine doses administered yesterday, made up of 5,679 first doses and 12,222 second doses. To date, 92% of eligible people in New Zealand have had their first dose and 85% are fully vaccinated.

Today our Pacific communities have reached some key vaccination milestones. 90% of Pacific people in Aotearoa have officially had their first dose, and 80% are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile Capital & Coast DHB is sitting at 89.6% fully vaccinated – only 1,131 shy of the 90% milestone.

Eleven of our DHBs have reached 80% first doses for Maori.

The Ministry of Health has now issued more than 2.1 million My Vaccine Passes and we wish to thank everyone who has already got theirs for their efforts.

You can request a My Vaccine Pass from the website.

Omicron variant

Health officials are currently assessing the latest international information on the new B.1.1529 variant which the World Health Organization has named Omicron.

This particular strain is in its infancy and as with any emerging developments to do with COVID-19 we are closely watching and monitoring evidence and countries’ responses.

We will advise on any potential impacts for New Zealand, noting that we remain in a good position to minimise the impact of any new variants with isolation and routine testing of international arrivals.

COVID-19 vaccine update

  • Total first and second vaccines administered to date (percentage of eligible people): 7,441,877: 3,872,472 first doses (92%); 3,569,405 second doses (85%)
  • Total first and second vaccines administered yesterday: 17,899: 5,679 first doses; 12,222 second doses
  • Māori (percentage of eligible people): 842,868: 462,493 first doses (81%); 380,375 second doses (67%)
  • Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people): 489,001: 258,825 first doses (90%); 230,176 second doses (80%)
  • Total first and second vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday: 6,058: 1,058 first doses; 5,000 second doses

Vaccination rates by DHB (with active cases)

  • Northland DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (85%); second doses (75%)
  • Auckland Metro DHBs (percentage of eligible people): First doses (94%); second doses (88%)
  • Waikato DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (91%); second doses (83%)
  • Canterbury DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (95%); second doses (87%)
  • Lakes DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (87%); second doses (78%)
  • MidCentral DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (92%); second doses (83%)
  • Bay of Plenty DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (89%); second doses (80%)
  • Wairarapa DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (92%); second doses (83%)
  • Capital and Coast DHB (percentage of eligible people): First doses (95%); second doses (90%)

Hospitalisations

  • Cases in hospital: 77. North Shore (14); Middlemore (28); Auckland (31); Waikato (3); Rotorua (1)
  • Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region wards only as of 26 November): Unvaccinated or not eligible (40 cases / 56%); partially immunised
  • Average age of current hospitalisations: 48
  • Cases in ICU or HDU: Eight (7 in Auckland, 1 in Lakes)

Cases

  • Seven day rolling average of community cases: 183
  • Number of new community cases: 145
  • Number of new cases identified at the border: Four
  • **Location of new community cases: Auckland (127), Waikato (13), Bay of Plenty (4), Canterbury (1)
  • Location of community cases (total): Northland 75 (39 of whom have recovered); Auckland 7,366 (2,298 of whom have recovered); Waikato 420 (128 of whom have recovered); Bay of Plenty 44; Lakes 26; Taranaki 6 (all of whom have recovered); MidCentral 5 (1 has recovered); Wairarapa 3; Wellington 18 (17 of whom have recovered); Nelson/Marlborough 1 (recovered); Canterbury 9 (4 of whom have recovered);
  • Number of community cases (total): 7,975 (in current community outbreak)
  • Confirmed cases (total): 10,746
  • Historical cases: 199 out of 8,940 cases since 1 January
  • Cases infectious in the community: 57 cases reported yesterday have exposure events
  • Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious: 100 cases reported yesterday have no exposure events
  • Cases epidemiologically linked: 60 of today’s new cases
  • Cases to be epidemiologically linked: 85 of today’s new cases
  • Cases epidemiologically linked (total): 5,986 (928 unlinked in the last 14 days)

Contacts

  • Number of active contacts being managed (total): 6,624
  • Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements): 64%
  • Percentage who have returned at least one result: 70%

Locations of interest

  • Locations of interest (total): 174 (as at 10am 27 November)

Tests

Number of tests (total): 4,843,960

Number of tests total (last 24 hours): 31,621

Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours): 13,011

Tests rolling average (last 7 days): 29,870

Testing centres in Auckland:

Wastewater

  • Wastewater detections: No unexpected detections

NZ COVID Tracer

  • Registered users (total): 3,411,515
  • Poster scans (total): 538,820,241
  • Manual diary entries (total): 20,794,668
  • Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday: 3,223,695

New cases identified at the border

Arrival date

From

Via

Positive test day/reason

Managed isolation/quarantine location

23 November

United States of America

Direct Flight

Day 2 / routine

Christchurch

20 November

full travel history to be confirmed

United Arab Emirates

Day 5 / routine

Auckland

25 November

Romania

Qatar

Day 0 / routine

Auckland

25 November

Romania

Qatar

Day 0 / routine

Auckland

The two cases who travelled from Romania were in a travel bubble together

Today’s cases

Today we are announcing new community cases in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury.

The two cases we’re reporting in Northland today came in after our 9am cut off and will be officially added to the case numbers tomorrow.

The case we’re reporting in Canterbury was announced in yesterday’s statement but, as indicated, is being officially added to the case numbers today.

There are no additional cases to report today in Wairarapa, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, MidCentral, Lakes or Taranaki.

One previously reported border case has been reclassified as under investigation so today’s net increase is 148 cases.

Information on today’s cases is included in the regional updates below. Anyone living in these areas, or elsewhere in New Zealand, with symptoms, no matter how mild, is urged to get tested – even if they are vaccinated – and remain isolated until they return a negative result. A full list of testing centres can be found on the Healthpoint website.

Death of a patient at Auckland City Hospital

Sadly today we are reporting the death of a patient with COVID-19 at Auckland City Hospital.

The patient, who was in their 80s, was admitted to hospital on 17 November.

Our thoughts are with their whânau and friends at this very sad time.

Hospitalisations

Today we are reporting one person in Rotorua Hospital’s ICU. This is the same person we had been reporting earlier in the week. They were mistakenly not included in yesterday’s numbers.

We have made a small update to our reporting of the vaccination status of current hospitalisations in the northern region wards. This is because advice from the Covid-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group, based on the most up-to-date evidence, the period of time required to be classified as fully immunised has been amended to 7 days (as opposed to 14 days).

NZ COVID Tracer App

Poster scans have reached a record.

3,223,695 poster scans were uploaded in the period between 1pm on Thursday and 10.50am yesterday.

This is an incredible effort and the Ministry wants to reiterate its thanks to everyone who scanned in using their device yesterday, and to everyone who continues to scan in.

/Public Release. View in full here.