Covid-19: Is NZ in for another Christmas wave? Modellers watch for early signs

There are early signs of an uptick in Covid-19 cases as new variant slowly gains foothold.

featured-image

A modeller says there are early signs that Covid-19 activity is ticking back up – but it’s too early to tell if that’s toward another summer wave New Zealand has seen early summer spikes in coronavirus activity – peaking around Christmas – since Omicron arrived at the start of 2022 The possible uptick comes after the arrival of new Omicron variant XEC, which doesn’t appear to be making the same splash past ones have Covid-19 modellers are closely watching for early signs of an uptick toward another summer wave, as a recently arrived variant gradually gains a foothold in New Zealand. Early summer bumps in Covid-19 activity – along with mid-year waves – have been an unwelcome pattern since Omicron began widely spreading in early 2022. Each has come with peaks in hospitalisation numbers just days before Christmas, although these holidaytime surges have been growing smaller over time.

Last month, activity ebbed to the lowest levels observed in the Omicron era, but there were now early indications numbers were on the way back up..