7591 new Covid cases on Thursday, 16 deaths reported

There are 7591 new Covid-19 cases in the community, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.

Rapid antigen test. (Source: istock.com)

The numbers were reported over the past 24 hours.

Sixteen more deaths of people with Covid-19 have been reported, bringing New Zealand’s total number of Covid-related deaths to 1102. The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is now at 12.

The ministry says seven of the reported deaths were from the Auckland region, three from both Canterbury and the Wellington region, and one each of Lakes, Bay of Plenty, and the Southern region.

“Out of respect, we will be making no further comment on these deaths,” it said.

Two people were in their 60s, two were in their 70s, eight were in their 80s, and four were aged over 90. Of these people, nine were female and seven were male.

Nationwide, there are 355 people in hospital with the virus, down 13 from Wednesday. There are also 12 people in an intensive care or high dependency unit, up one from 24 hours ago.

Thursday’s new positive cases, detected through rapid antigen tests (RATs) and PCR tests, are located in Northland (220), Auckland (2,520), Waikato (566), Bay of Plenty (221), Lakes (122), Hawke’s Bay (211), MidCentral (258), Whanganui (91), Taranaki (250), Tairāwhiti (52), Wairarapa (77), Capital and Coast (538), Hutt Valley (220), Nelson Marlborough (308), Canterbury (1,110), South Canterbury (136), Southern (589) and West Coast (95). The location of seven are marked as unknown.

The seven-day rolling average of new community case numbers is 7095, down from 7981 last Thursday.

The ministry said 7339 of Thursday’s cases were detected through RATs and 252 through PCR tests. There are also 69 new imported cases of Covid-19.

Over 15,586 rapid antigen test results were reported, and 3814 PCR tests were carried out, in the last 24 hours.

On Wednesday, there were 8150 new community cases with 11 deaths, including a child under the age of 10.