COVID-19: Case demographics

Last updated 1pm 20 March 2023.

On this page:

• Hospitalisation and ICU care for COVID-19
• Case demographics - all COVID-19 cases
  • COVID-19 and ethnicity
  • COVID-19 by age and sex
  • Details of COVID-19 deaths
  • Details of all cases

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Hospitalisation and ICU care for COVID-19

Cases by sex

Sex	Total cases	Hospitalisations for COVID-19	ICU care for COVID-19
Female	1227933	13628	293
Male	1020779	12930	427
Unknown	2240	6	0
Total	2250952	26564	720

Cases by age group

Age group	Total cases	Hospitalisations for COVID-19	ICU care for COVID-19
0 to 9	205879	2943	43
10 to 19	300458	919	15
20 to 29	383103	1714	15
30 to 39	386070	2009	52
40 to 49	324501	2012	91
50 to 59	279522	2784	134
60 to 69	197743	3576	155
70+	173600	10607	215
Unknown	76	0	0
Total	2250952	26564	720

Cases by ethnicity

Prioritised ethnicity*	Total cases	Hospitalisations for COVID-19	ICU care for COVID-19
Māori	332353	4541	168
Pacific Peoples	182825	3189	109
Asian	327063	2546	55
Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA)	39669	470	8
European or Other	1354018	15754	376
Unknown	15024	64	4
Total	2250952	26564	720

* The prioritised ethnicity classification system is used in this table and below. This means each person is allocated to a single ethnic group, based on the ethnic groups they identify with. Where people identify with more than one group, they are assigned in this order of priority: Māori, Pacific Peoples, Asian, and European or Other. So, if a person identifies as being Māori and New Zealand European, the person is counted as Māori. See Ngā tapuae me ngā raraunga: Methods and data sources for further information.

The data categorized by ethnicity come from National Health Index (NHI) data collection, linked to data held in the EpiSurv database.

Vaccination details

Vaccination status when reported as a case	Total cases	Hospitalisations for COVID-19	ICU care for COVID-19
No doses received prior to being reported as a case	80671	2877	140
Partially vaccinated	18770	533	18
Fully vaccinated at least 7 days before reported as a case	635550	5265	139
Received booster at least 7 days before being reported as a case	1253266	14779	377
Under 12 years old	262695	3110	46
Total	2250952	26564	720

Note:
1. No breakdown by location, ethnicity or age group is available for cases and vaccine data to protect patients' privacy.
2. Cases that are under-12 are reported in the “Under 12 years old” category.

Note: Up to date hospital occupancy figures are reported each day in the Ministry’s COVID-19 media statements. On July 7 2022, the Ministry started switched to reporting only COVID-19 related hospitalisations. Data from the previous 90 days is preliminary and incomplete. Data from the National Minimum Dataset is used as it becomes available. Hospitalisation data reporting is high asynchronous and updates are generally unrelated to current hospitalisations. For a weekly time series see the Ministry's COVID-19 Data GitHub repository.

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Case demographics - all COVID-19 cases

COVID-19 and ethnicity

Total cases and tests by ethnicity

	Total cases since first NZ case	Total tests for COVID-19 to date
Māori	332353	1,136,025
Pacific Peoples	182825	907,379
Asian	327063	1,281,938
European or Other	1393687	4,101,299
Unknown	15024	389,505
Total	2250952	7,816,146

Note: This table shows the number of tests, and some people are tested more than once.

Cases by ethnicity

Cases of COVID-19 by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Active (confirmed and probable)	Recovered	Deceased	Total cases since first case	Percentage of all cases
Māori	1321	330804	228	332353	14.8%
Pacific Peoples	467	182222	136	182825	8.1%
Asian	1495	325464	104	327063	14.5%
Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA)	134	39524	11	39669	1.8%
European or Other	7659	1344260	2099	1354018	60.2%
Unknown	74	14942	8	15024	0.7%
Total	11150	2237216	2586	2250952	100%

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COVID-19 by age and sex

Cases by age

COVID-19 cases by age group

Age group	Active (confirmed and probable)	Recovered	Deceased	Total cases	Percentage of all cases
0 to 9	501	205375	3	205879	9.1%
10 to 19	993	299463	2	300458	13.3%
20 to 29	1803	381298	2	383103	17%
30 to 39	1895	384167	8	386070	17.2%
40 to 49	1514	322963	24	324501	14.4%
50 to 59	1485	277950	87	279522	12.4%
60 to 69	1367	196174	202	197743	8.8%
70 to 79	1039	111841	505	113385	5%
80 to 89	445	47064	977	48486	2.2%
90+	108	10845	776	11729	0.5%
Unknown	0	76	0	76	0%
Total	11150	2237216	2586	2250952	100%

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Cases by sex

Total cases of COVID-19 by sex

Sex	Active (confirmed and probable)	Recovered	Deceased	Total cases	Percentage of all cases
Female	6561	1220169	1203	1227933	55%
Male	4567	1014834	1378	1020779	45%
Unknown	22	2213	5	2240	0%
Total	11150	2237216	2586	2250952	100%

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Details of COVID-19 deaths

All deaths where someone has died within 28 days of being reported as having a positive test result for COVID-19 are now reported. This approach is in-line with that taken by other countries — such as the United Kingdom — and it ensures that all cases of COVID-19 who die are formally recorded to help provide an accurate assessment of the impact of COVID-19.

In many instances, further investigation will provide more information about the contribution of COVID-19 to their death.

This contribution can range from death not related, for instance someone with COVID-19 who dies in a car accident; to COVID-19 being a contributing cause, for example when someone dies with an existing health condition combined with COVID-19; and to COVID-19 being recorded as the cause of death.

Deaths that are still being investigated are reported as still to be classified.

Age and ethnicity of deaths within 28 days of being reported as a case 

Age group	Māori	Pacific Peoples	Asian	European or Other	Total
0 to 59	114	46	22	164	347
60 to 69	83	34	11	220	353
70 to 79	97	56	40	615	811
80 to 89	86	68	63	1198	1416
90+	31	24	25	957	1039
Total	411	228	161	3154	3966

Age and ethnicity of deaths where COVID-19 is officially coded as the underlying cause 

Age group	Māori	Pacific Peoples	Asian	European or Other	Total
0 to 59	20	12	7	22	61
60 to 69	29	15	5	65	115
70 to 79	41	15	16	217	291
80 to 89	39	27	27	546	639
90+	18	14	13	488	535
Total	147	83	68	1338	1641

Age and vaccination status of deaths within 28 days of being reported as a case 

Age group	Not fully vaccinated	Fully vaccinated	Received booster	Total
0 to 59	85	110	152	347
60 to 69	54	79	220	353
70 to 79	104	121	586	811
80 to 89	146	162	1108	1416
90+	113	103	823	1039
Total	502	575	2889	3966

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Details of past cases

We publish details about every person with COVID-19 (confirmed or probable) in a downloadable spreadsheet. For privacy reasons, this data only includes:

• Date potential case was notified
• Sex of case
• Age group of case
• District where the case lives - listed as "Managed isolation & quarantine" for border cases
• If the case is related to overseas travel

This data covers all cases from 26 February 2020 to 20 March 2023 and is available from the Ministry's COVID-19 Data GitHub repository.

Researchers can request detailed data on COVID-19 in New Zealand by sending an email to the Ministry of Health COVID-19 Response and Coordination team - [email protected]