New Zealand logs 16,399 new COVID-19 community cases over past week

WELLINGTON, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand recorded 16,399 new community cases of COVID-19 and 41 more deaths from the pandemic over the past week, its Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

On average, new cases per day reached 2,343 in 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 recorded 1,831,233 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,095 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, the ministry said.

Currently, 243 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals in the country, including six in intensive care units or high dependency units, showed official data.