Introduction | Kupu whakataki

COVID-19 by the Numbers is a compendium of publicly available statistics and commissioned research about what took place in New Zealand and internationally during the pandemic, and the consequences of both the pandemic and steps taken in response to it. The report locates this information in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, other pandemics and diseases, and other events both local and global.

This report does not make findings about the 'key decisions' we have assessed in Part 2 of the Phase Two Report, or the impact of those decisions on New Zealanders. We cannot say, for example, what impact lockdowns had on education or healthcare, without acknowledging the inevitable disruption that would have occurred if lockdowns had not taken place. Rather this report pulls together what we do know about how the pandemic affected different parts of the population and about what changed in New Zealand during that time and afterwards.

We found this compendium useful in enriching our understanding of the pandemic and the period under review. Similarly, we believe this information will be useful for others to draw on now and in the future and have provided this report for that reason.

Some of the data we present takes us up to 2025. We acknowledge that while the pandemic has cast a shadow on many aspects of New Zealand life, the further in time we get from the pandemic, and as other events have unfolded, the weaker the attribution of outcomes to the pandemic and the response to it.