Confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 by date of report, district health board (DHB), age, gender + travel details if applicable. Open data is available on confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, disaggregated by gender, age intervals, DHS and travel details (if applicable). In addition, open data on Stats NZ (such as population census) have been used to complement research and OGD initiatives. Over time, and as the numbers have increased, disaggregation has widened to include ethnicity and transmission type. Data is also now released on clusters and lab testing.

The data on confirmed cases help inform government decisions on response – alert level (lockdown) and financial relief to keep businesses afloat and wages paid etc. The census and other statistics from past surveys was used in modelling that influenced government’s decision on how strong to react and enter a state of emergency.

The Ministry of Health is co-ordinating the release of COVID-19 information. Making the information available as open data was at the request of the Open Government Data Programme (Stats NZ) in response to public requests.