Two more people have died of Covid-19 in New Zealand, including a woman who had been in ICU in Dunedin with the virus.
One of the cases was a woman from Invercargill who was in her 60 and had been in hospital with Covid-19 since the 7th of April. Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said she had been very unwell and was in intensive care in Dunedin Hospital. She had an underlying condition.
"While her family had not able to be with her over the past few weeks, arrangements were made to be with her last night as she passed away," said Dr Bloomfield.
The second person who died was a man in his 70s who had an underlying condition.
He was a resident at Rosewood Aged Care Facility in Christchurch, but was not one of the group transferred to Burwood Hospital.
Five of the woman’s family members also have Covid-19 and are believed to be among the rare group of New Zealanders to have caught it within the community, according to RNZ.
Three new cases were added today, and two more deaths were announced. (Source: Other)
Yesterday, the woman’s daughter told RNZ the rest of the family had come through their Covid-19, with one person still mildly symptomatic.
Dr Bloomfield said his sympathies go out to the families of both people and also apologised to the family of the Invercargill woman.
In yesterday's daily announcement he classified the woman as being in ICU but in a "stable" condition, which confused her family. Dr Bloomfield explained that the use of "stable" meant she still remained in the same condition, not that she had improved.
"Im sorry that that happened and I'm certainly happy to be in touch with them personally if they would like to," he said.
There are three new cases in New Zealand, two confirmed cases of Covid-19 and one new probable case. However, the total remains at 1451 as Dr Bloomfield explained there were three cases reported yesterday that were confirmed but the original testing was done in another country so the Ministry of Health has had to check the information.
There are now eight people in hospitals with Covid-19 throughout the country. One person is in ICU in Middlemore Hospital.
There are still 16 clusters, with four additional cases now linked.
SHARE ME