Covid-19 coronavirus: two new cases, one death in the last 24 hours – update from Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield

There are two new cases of Covid-19 and one person died of coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

Another Rosewood Rest Home resident in Christchurch passed away, says director general of health Ashley Bloomfield.

Twelve people from the rest of the household have now died and the number of Covid-19 related deaths in New Zealand is 21

The woman had previous health problems, was a much-loved member of the Rosewood family, and had been there since 2011, she said.

A staff member was with her when she passed away.

Bloomfield said a review of family members who can visit a dying family at alert level 3 was underway.

As of yesterday, half of the 24 requests for exemption from the blocking rules had been reviewed.

Bloomfield was unable to say whether exemptions had been granted.

Two new cases

One of the new cases is confirmed and the other probable.

The confirmed case is a student at Marist College, one of the largest coronavirus groups in the country.

The student had felt a little bad last month, but the positive diagnosis was only detected in a larger test of 250 people, Bloomfield said.

The late positive is not fully understood, he said. The student will remain isolated and will be examined again next week.

The likely case is a family contact linked to St Margaret’s group of rest homes, Bloomfield said.

The two new cases bring the total in New Zealand from the start of the pandemic to 1488.

The low number of cases was encouraging, but Bloomfield repeated the message that we are not out of the woods.

“Don’t give it an inch,” he said.

‘No one should give birth alone’

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged that the damage caused by the blockade needed to be addressed.

Some of those stories did not meet her expectations: No one should have had to give birth alone, Ardern said.

“No one should go through that experience alone.”

Bloomfield said it was important to hear these stories and their impact on their whanau and that they would be used to inform future policy if necessary and to learn from it.

He did not agree that the Government failed these people.

The vast majority of cancer surgeries continued during the shutdown, Bloomfield said,

Bloomfield said they would organize a flight if they needed to collect more medical supplies if necessary after being asked about Pharmac’s lack of a specific medication.

In the absence of Maori representation on the Epidemic Response Committee, Ardern said that there should have been a variety of views represented, but that it was organized by the Opposition.

Attorney General summoned

But the legal underpinnings for the blockade and its enforcement were in the public domain, Ardern said.

What Simon Bridges, who chairs the Epidemic Response Committee, was looking for was legal advice he had strongly advocated in the past when he was in government, Ardern said.

Ardern said he had been constantly informed that there was no gap in enforcement powers.

But the epidemic warnings might have been more suited to their purpose and there would be a time in the future to re-analyze that.

Microsoft investment in New Zealand

Ardern said Microsoft’s announcement to build a data center in New Zealand served as a signal to the world that New Zealand was open for business.

Taking advantage of investment opportunities would be part of our recovery, Ardern said.

International companies like Microsoft would not seek to invest here if they did not trust our response to Covid-19, he said.

It was also a vote of confidence in our digital future, he said.

The 21 APEC economies agreed to work together to ensure continued trade and supply chains.

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Yesterday, for the second day in a row, there were no new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

In fact, the total number of confirmed and probable cases decreased by one to 1,486 after a probable case was reclassified.

There were 184 active cases and four people are in the hospital.

3,232 tests were completed yesterday, with a combined total to date of 155,928.

Achieving zero cases two days in a row was a testament to the efforts of New Zealanders that “we can be proud without a doubt,” said Ardern.

But he urged Kiwis to double his efforts to keep the numbers streak going.

The government will publish the rules for alert level 2 tomorrow and then decide on Monday whether to lower the levels.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said this morning that details of the rules were still being worked on.

“We are looking at the whole framework. Everyone will have different views on it and should be eliminated,” Peters told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking.

Bridges yesterday questioned Ardern in Parliament that the government is too conservative to get out of the lockdown, causing business owners and workers to suffer.

Ardern gave Bridges a sharp reprimand by saying that she was the one who had to be held accountable for her actions.

“That member can afford to sit on that side of the House, without bearing the consequences of a wrong move, but not us. We have to take into account the livelihoods of all New Zealanders.”