SDHB COVID-19 Update 27 May 2022

Southland Hospital open to Visitors  

The Medical, Surgical and Rehabilitation wards at Southland Hospital have now re-opened to visitors.  

From 16 May – 24 May restrictions were tightened to protect our vulnerable patients after multiple COVID-19 exposures.  

Some visiting restrictions remain. A patient can nominate up to two visitors during their stay in hospital but only one can visit at any time. Visiting hours are 2-6 pm and visitors must always wear a surgical grade mask whilst in hospital both for their safety and the safety of the patients in hospital.  Visitors will be supplied with a mask if they do not have an appropriate one when they arrive. 

Current visiting restrictions remain for all other areas with patients to the Emergency Department and Outpatients allowed one support person. Please contact Maternity services and the Children’s Ward for specific visitor information. 

We thank you for your patience and understanding and appreciate you supporting our health care team to keep our community safe. 

Hospitalisation figures 

Current hospitalisations as at 8am 27 May 2022  

Please note that hospitalisation data does not differentiate between patients admitted because of COVID-19 infection versus those admitted for a separate reason who happen to also have COVID-19. Hospital numbers reported by the Southern DHB include those in mental health wards.   

The Ministry of Health total figures for Southern for the previous 24 hours are: 

• 484 new positive cases  

• 3677 (not recovered from last 7 days)  

Current cases as of 11.59pm 26 May 2022  

Please note, the Ministry of Health’s daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO. Due to the increased use of RATs and system lag issues there may be a discrepancy in the number of total active cases from the territorial authority breakdown. A decision has been made nationally that areas with less than 5 new cases per 24-hour period will be reported as “<5”. All territorial authorities with less than 100 cases will have their case numbers rounded to the nearest 5. We are unable to supply further information. Please contact the Ministry of Health directly for more information about these decisions.