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March 07, 2022
Hospital cases shows Omicron threat to unboosted
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On March 7, 2022
Download AudioA Māori immunologist is warning people not to treat the Omicron variant of Covid-19 lightly.
There were just over 15,000 new community cases reported yesterday after daily totals topped 20,000 last week, but Northern Region Health Coordination Centre clinical director Anthony Jordan says that could be because people are self-testing and then isolating without telling authorities.
He says it could be a few days before a clearer picture emerges.
Dr Jordan says while people think having Omicron will be a mild illness, that’s only true for those who are boosted.
“It can still be a severe illness for those people who have other medical issues or who are not vaccinated at all. So we still see people coming to the hospital and those numbers have been steadily increasing over the weekend and there are people in intensive care so it is not a mild illness for everyone,” he says.
Dr Jordan says the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre will make a big push this week to encourage people to get their booster shot.
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