New Zealand recorded 8,435 new community cases of COVID-19 and 15 more deaths, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

Among the new community infections, 2,807 were reported in the largest city Auckland, the ministry said.

In addition, 65 new cases of COVID-19 were detected at the New Zealand border.

Currently, 327 COVID-19 patients are being treated in New Zealand hospitals, including 10 in intensive care units or high dependency units.

New Zealand has reported 1,109,144 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic hit the country.

With New Zealand expecting to see Omicron cases rise during the winter, the Orange setting of the COVID-19 Protection Framework remains appropriate for managing this stage of the outbreak, said COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.

"While daily cases numbers have flattened nationally, they are again beginning to increase in the Northern region and hospitalization rates have also increased slightly over the past month. In addition, our latest COVID-19 modelling indicates that under current conditions, there is a likelihood of a secondary wave of cases appearing," Hipkins said.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

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