WELLINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand recorded 9,606 new community cases of COVID-19 and 22 more deaths in the last week, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.
On average, new cases per day reached 1,369 over the last week. The country has seen the number of daily cases going down steadily from over 10,000 cases nationwide in early July.
With the fresh cases, New Zealand has reported 1,752,613 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,972 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, the ministry said.
Currently, 175 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals in the country, including two in intensive care units or high dependency units, showed official data.
New Zealand has removed all COVID-19 protection measures, including mask wearing and vaccination requirements, from Sept. 12.
From Monday, reporting of the COVID-19 daily cases will now move to weekly, according to the health ministry. ■
