Wellington: New Zealand could be hit by another wave of COVID-19 before the end of the year, Covid-19 modeller Michael Plank said.
According to a report, the University of Canterbury professor Plank citing an example of another upcoming pandemic wave, said the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is on the rise in European countries such as Germany, Denmark, Belgium and the UK.
He said that the declining immunity and factors such as the new Omicron sub-forms BQ.1.1, one BA.5 lineage and another subtype, BA.2.75.2, could contribute to creating another wave in the future.
According to the Health Ministry, New Zealand recorded 9,975 new covid-19 community cases and 33 more deaths from the pandemic last week. Last week, on an average, new cases per day reached 1,422. The country saw a steady decline in the number of daily cases from over 10,000 cases across the country in early July.
Therefore, whatever happens in the northern region expects something similar to happen here – maybe in a couple of weeks, planck was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald. He noted that many citizens of New Zealand were no longer wearing masks and the border had already opened last month.