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Director of health Ashley Bloomfield (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)
Director of health Ashley Bloomfield (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)

Covid-19April 27, 2020

Covid-19: New Zealand cases mapped and charted, April 27

Director of health Ashley Bloomfield (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)
Director of health Ashley Bloomfield (Illustration: Simon Chesterman)

The latest in our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. David Garcia worked with Chris to create today’s charts.

This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members, with support from the Science Media Centre

These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early afternoon, which describe the situation at 9am on the day of release. These data visualisations are interactive so use your mouse or thumb to hover over each graph for more detail.

This afternoon’s Ministry of Health figures report that the total number of confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases dropped by one to 1,469 (1,122 confirmed and 347 probable). A total of 1,180 people have recovered, an increase of 38 since yesterday.

The reason the overall total dropped by one requires a little unpacking. There were, in fact, five new cases today – one confirmed and four probable. However, six previously probable cases were reclassified as “under investigation” or “not a case”. The net result of five new cases and the six reclassifications is a decrease by one.

Sadly, one death related to Covid-19 was reported today. A woman in her 90s has passed away in Waitākere hospital. She was a resident of St Margaret’s hospital and rest home and the third death from this cluster. This brings the number of Covid-19 related deaths in New Zealand to 19.

The number of significant clusters with 10 or more cases remains at 16. There are seven people in hospital, which is unchanged since yesterday. One of these people is in Middlemore’s intensive care unit.

Yesterday, 2,939 tests were processed. The ministry reported averaging 5,374 Covid-19 lab tests per day during the week ending 26 April. A total of 123,920 lab tests have been conducted since January 22. There are 69,258 test supplies in stock, down from 73,099 yesterday.

This chart compares active and recovered cases. Active cases are confirmed or probable cases of Covid-19 where the person has neither recovered nor died. Recovered cases are people who were once an active case, but are at least 10 days since onset and have not exhibited any symptoms for 48 hours.

The overall downward trend of active case counts that started around April 8 continues. Note how the blue curve is levelling off, while the purple bars continue to decline. This means there are very few new cases being reported while existing cases steadily recover.

The symbol map shows confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases arranged by district health board. In keeping with the relatively small number of new cases, there is minimal change in regional counts. Waitematā (up two to 222), Southern (no change at 216), Waikato (down six to 186) and Auckland (no change at 175) remain the four district health boards with the largest number of active cases.

Based on the overnight change in case counts, it appears that all or most of the six downgraded case statuses occurred in Waikato DHB.

There are 16 significant clusters under investigation by the Ministry of Health. The only change overnight was a new case associated with one of the aged residential care facilities in Auckland. The ministry has not released formal counts associating deceased persons with clusters. Instead, we compiled these numbers from ministry media releases about each case.

The chart highlights large differences between the clusters. For example, the Marist College cluster was one of the earliest and largest reported. Nearly everyone has recovered. In contrast, well over half the Rosewood aged residential home cases are still active and 10 people have sadly died.

This chart shows cases by the date they were first entered into EpiSurv, ESR’s public health surveillance system. Note that the number of cases reported on a particular date may not match the number of cases reported in the last 24 hours. This is because the number of confirmed and probable cases reported in the last 24 hours includes cases that were entered on an earlier date as “under investigation” or “suspected” whose status has now been changed to confirmed or probable.

Keep going!