Covid 19 coronavirus: New Zealand has recorded its second coronavirus-related death; 44 new cases

New Zealand has recorded its second coronavirus-related death.

The death was of a woman in her 90s, who died at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch.

There are 44 new cases of Covid-19, of which 23 are confirmed cases and 21 are probable.

Deputy Director of Public Health Dr. Caroline McElnay updated the nation from the hive in Wellington.

She said the woman died yesterday and had recently returned a positive test.

McElnay said, as seen worldwide, Covid-19 could be fatal to older people with underlying health conditions.

The woman who died had several age-related health conditions, McElnay said.

She was one of the residents of the Rosewood rest home who had been hospitalized earlier in the week.

Due to level 4 blocking conditions, the woman’s family was unable to visit or be with her before she died in hospital.

The family would take time to cry and the Ministry of Health’s thoughts were with the family, McElnay said.

He couldn’t say how many people in the rest home had been screened, but said investigations were underway to find out how Covid-19 entered the rest home.

• Covid19.govt.nz – The official government Covid-19 advisory website

The ministry said some people showing symptoms in the nursing home had not been evaluated due to their particular vulnerabilities and the distress it would cause, but were being treated as probable cases.

The Covid-19 test was not particularly distressing for most people, but for some of the Rosewood group it was difficult for nurses to explain what was going on and why they needed to be tested, McElnay said.

The CDHB could provide more information this afternoon about the other Rosewood residents who had been hospitalized.

Fourteen of the new cases announced today are linked to existing groups. In total, 373 people have recovered, an increase of 56 from yesterday.

The total number of cases in New Zealand is 1,283.

There are 16 people in the hospital. Four are in ICU, Wellington, Waitemata, Waikato and Southern, two of which are in critical condition.

There continues to be a strong but declining link to travel abroad, but with a growing link to confirmed cases.

There are 12 groups of more than 10 people.

If New Zealand hadn’t been at level 4 blocking, the spread of the Bluff group could have been much worse, McElnay said.

The increase in cases today confirmed that New Zealand could not be “too accommodating” in our response to the virus, he said.

McElnay said the EPP was not being rationed and that health workers should have access to it and contact their DHB if that did not happen.

She would be surprised if someone was asked to remove the PPE, she said.

McElnay said he recognized the challenge religious leaders faced this Easter, but urged them to follow the Prime Minister’s advice to stay home and organize to worship from there.

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday that the sacrifices Kiwis had made in the past two weeks to try to break the Covid 19 chain were “huge.”

“In the face of the greatest threat to human health we have seen in more than a century, the Kiwis have quietly and collectively implemented a defense wall at the national level.

“We are turning a corner. But to be successful, we need it to keep working.”

She said she expected obstacles on this Easter weekend.

“While most people are doing the right thing, some are not. We cannot let the selfish actions of a few slow us down.”