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Live: 135 Covid cases, 76 in hospital, 88% of Kiwis fully vaxed

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 6 Dec 2021, 12:48PM
(Photo / NZ Herald)
(Photo / NZ Herald)

Live: 135 Covid cases, 76 in hospital, 88% of Kiwis fully vaxed

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 6 Dec 2021, 12:48PM

There are 135 new cases of Covid in the community and 76 people in hospital with the virus today. 

Of the new cases, there are 125 in Auckland, 8 in Waikato and 2 in Canterbury. 

The Canterbury cases were first announced yesterday but are being officially reported in today's figures. 

There are four new cases in Nelson-Marlborough, which will be officially reported in tomorrow's figures. 

There are eight new cases in the Waikato including five in Te Kūiti and one each in Huntly, Ōtorohanga and Ngāruawāhia. 

All eight cases are linked to previous cases. 

Of the 76 cases in hospital. 14 are in Waitemata, 31 in Auckland, 26 in Counties Manukau, 2 in Waikato, 2 in Bay of Plenty and 2 in Nelson-Marlborough. 

There are seven people in ICU or HDU. 

Health staff are currently supporting 3123 people to isolate at home, including 847 Covid cases. 

On Sunday there were 106 new confirmed cases of the virus, with Whanganui and Canterbury the latest to confirm a case. 

Another 93 cases were in Auckland, eight in Waikato and three in Northland. 

There were 77 people in hospital with the virus, seven of which were in ICU. 

And despite almost 90 per cent of New Zealand's eligible population now being vaccinated, more than half of those in hospital had not had a jab. Another 25 per cent had only received one dose or had had their second within the past week, which meant they had not developed full immunity. 

Only 13 per cent were fully vaccinated, while the vaccine status of the last 6 per cent was unknown. 

Earlier today Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was not expecting lockdowns over summer, with some parts of the country only just starting to get freedoms back. 

Ardern's reassuring comments come as a leading epidemiologist warns Auckland will "probably" see more transmission around the city despite its high vaccination rates. 

But while Aucklanders are getting ready to leave the city from next Wednesday, Professor Michael Baker told Breakfast Aucklanders shouldn't go and stay with anyone who is unvaccinated as it could be a "real disaster". 

However, Ardern is confident the new traffic light system rolled out last Friday will give the country enough protections. 

She told Breakfast she was feeling "really positive" after the country's first weekend in the new traffic light system. 

New Zealand is projected to reach the symbolic 90 per cent vaccination milestone among eligible Kiwis by Christmas Eve, according to the Herald's vaccination tracker. 

That's significant because modelling has shown that at a 90 per cent vaccination rate, 10,000 exposures to Covid-19 would result only in 1175 cases and 73 hospitalisations. 

But some experts think we could push vaccination rates even higher - aiming for 95 per cent of over-12s, in addition to vaccinating children from the end of next month. 

Across Auckland 90 per cent of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated - although that milestone has not yet been reached in Counties Manukau DHB. 

As of yesterday, some 3.6 million eligible Kiwis (88 per cent) were now fully vaccinated, while 3.9m people (93 per cent) had received at least one dose. 

That left some 285,244 people – or 6.8 per cent of the eligible population – completely unvaccinated. 

Some experts have cautioned the 90 per cent target masked still-lagging rates among vulnerable populations such as Māori and Pasifika – and also didn't account for the risk faced by children, who won't be eligible until next month. 

Māori health researcher Dr Rawiri Taonui feared Auckland's reopening could come with a high toll - and worried the Ministry of Health's dataset may be underestimating how many Māori are yet to be vaccinated. 

His calculations, which used Statistics New Zealand estimates, suggested an undercount of around 45,000 among Māori. 

Taonui said a targeted approach was urgently needed with DHBs supporting Māori health providers to get to under-vaccinated areas. 

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