Thirty-four people have died with Covid-19 in the past 10 days in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health has announced.
Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said that took the total number of publicly-reported deaths of people with the virus to 303 since the start of the pandemic.
Of the 34 deaths reported on Tuesday, 27 people were over the age of 70. She said many of these people, especially those who were older, may have had other conditions that heightened the risk of them catching Covid-19.
The seven-day rolling average of deaths of people with the virus was now 15, McElnay said.
"Sadly this is not unexpected," she said, adding that overseas experience showed deaths of people with Covid-19 tended to lag behind hospitalisation and case numbers.
"We expect the number of deaths reported will continue to fluctuate day to day but the seven-day rolling average to remain at similar levels for the coming weeks."
McElnay said the delay in the deaths being reported was due to the fact people could have been dying with Covid-19, rather than of it.
She said, at times, it may also take some time for Covid-19 to be detected in a deceased person.
Despite the high number of deaths, it was "encouraging" that there was a continued drop in case numbers, McElnay added.
In the 24 hours to Tuesday, 17,148 new Covid-19 cases were detected in the community.
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