in Aotearoa - Bloomfield
Dr Bloomfield's latest update comes a day after the government announced sweeping changes to its public health protection measures.
Dr Bloomfield was confident at his last briefing two days ago that the Omicron outbreak had peaked in Auckland, and case numbers are also slowing in other parts of the country.
He said today that analysis confirmed the significant drop of cases across Tāmaki Makaurau and all three DHB areas, accompanied now by a drop in hospitalisation case numbers.
In the seven days to 20 March, there were 24 new cases per 1000 in the country, compared with 27 per 1000 the week before, Dr Bloomfield said. Tairāwhiti DHB (with 44 per 1000) and Hawke's Bay DHB (with 38 per 1000) have the highest rates at the moment, he said.
There there were 913 people in hospital with the coronavirus, down from 960 yesterday, with 18,423 new community cases reported today.
Dr Bloomfield said Māori have the highest rate of community cases of Covid-19, overtaking Pacific people at 28 per 1000. Rates for NZ European and Asian ethic groups is 21 per 1000.
Link to video and article: Covid-19: Māori now have highest rate of community cases in Aotearoa - Bloomfield | RNZ News
