News and notices Pānui

Cases of COVID-19 in the Bay of Plenty 16 Feb 2022

16 February 2022

There are 33 new community cases to report in the Bay of Plenty today with 3 in hospital.

Nationally, there are 1160 new community cases, with 56 people in hospital and no-one in ICU.

The COVID-19 vaccine remains our best defence against the virus. People who are vaccinated are less likely to get seriously unwell or be hospitalised than people who haven’t been vaccinated.

The booster vaccine offers a high level of protection against Omicron, so if it’s been three months since you got your second dose, please get your booster as soon as possible.

Omicron is highly transmissible, but all of us can play our part to slow the spread of the virus, help protect our most vulnerable people from being infected, and ensure our health system is able to manage extra demand for services.

Testing reminder

It is encouraging to see a high level of testing this week. However, it is important the right people get tested for the right reasons. Staff at testing centres will prioritise testing for people who are close contacts or are symptomatic.

There is good testing capacity throughout the country, but unnecessary testing could delay results for those who urgently need them.

People should only get tested if they have cold or flu symptoms, are a close contact, or if they have been asked to get tested by a health official.

We are anticipating continued high demand at our COVID-19 testing sites, so our request is to, please, be patient. Our frontline staff across the health sector are doing the best they can to help in a timely way.

For a full list of testing sites nationwide, visit the Healthpoint website.