Covirus 19 coronavirus: four more deaths, the number of deaths in New Zealand reaches 9, 17 new cases today

There are four other Covid-19-related deaths and Director-General for Health Ashley Bloomfield says it is a “sobering reminder” of what’s at stake in the fight against the pandemic.

One person died in Wellington, and three from the Rosewood nursing home group in Christchurch have died.

This brings the death toll to nine, including six from the Rosewood group.

There are 17 new Covid-19 cases to report, consisting of eight new confirmed Covid-19 cases and nine new probable cases. Bloomfield said New Zealand has passed the peak of new cases.

“It was important to know now where the new cases are coming from, and then get around them by comprehensive contact tracking,” he said.

There are 628 cases that have been recovered, an increase of 82 from the previous day.

There are 1,366 cases in New Zealand, with 15 cases in the hospital; A case in Dunedin was in critical condition. He said he understood that Auckland’s private group was a bachelor party.

Bloomfield said the Rosewood group would continue to be at risk, but that did not make the additional deaths less sad.

He rejected the suggestion that the Burwood Hospital patients, who were transferred from Rosewood when the rest of the house received a case of coronavirus, were essentially dead.

He said a third of the deaths each year occurred in hospice care, and Burwood residents receive the same treatment they would receive in Rosewood.

The deaths reported today in Burwood were in their 80s and 90s and had underlying health conditions, making them more vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19.

He said the two new deaths in Burwood were not addressed in the ICU, and that those decisions would have been made by those families along with health experts.

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He said that the man who died in Wellington had been ill for some time.

He relayed some comments from a Rosewood family, who praised the staff there and appreciated having Skype contact with their loved one.

Bloomfield said families were not allowed to visit their loved ones with Covid-19, not just the elderly, but it was currently being reviewed.

The general ban on visiting people with Covid-19 was in place to break the chain of transmission, he said.

“As someone whose parents passed away, I absolutely understand how people should feel and that is why we are specifically looking at that policy.”

Coming out of the running of the bulls

He said the ministry would provide “robust” advice to the cabinet for its decision on Monday on whether to lift the blockade, and was waiting for more information on contact tracing before Monday.

Aged Care Review Launched

A review of the residential care facilities for the elderly that had been infected will also be carried out, he said.

“My hope is to do this in conjunction with the Aged Care Association.”

“We know that residential care and senior settings are very vulnerable if we have Covid-19 in those facilities,” said Bloomfield.

Working closely with those facilities and acting quickly and proactively was vital, he added.

There were 650 such facilities across the country, and the relatively low number of cases at those facilities was an indication of care and preparedness measures across the sector, including “non-visitor” policies before the blocking.

Bloomfield said that each new arrival is isolated for 14 days, and there are no shared meals.

He said there was a “low threshold” for testing at those facilities, but has not responded to the sector’s call to test each new arrival, about 700 each day.

Bloomfield said more stocks were being analyzed and more funding for the sector would be announced later this week.

“We continue to work with them to ensure that we are maximizing the value of the evidence.”

Test rates

Yesterday 1572 tests were performed, and the seven-day moving average of tests is 3039.

Fewer tests were expected during the Easter recess.

There was also less evidence in Australia, Bloomfield said, but added that a low threshold for evaluating anyone with respiratory symptoms would remain in place.

The test data showed that more evidence was needed at Whanganui and Tai Rawhiti, Bloomfield said, but overall there was good regional dissemination of the evidence.

When asked about a nurse in Burwood who works without hair protection or foot covers, Bloomfield said he was unable to comment on the details of that case.

But he added that workers there should have access to all the PPE they needed.

There were 220 employees available to track contacts, and about 100 cases could be tracked per day. The number of new cases every day also fell, and the number of close contacts per case went from four to five, he said.

Using an app to improve contact tracking would only help if there were 80 percent voluntary use of the app, he said.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reminded people to keep watch and follow the closing rules, otherwise the first half lead that New Zealand had worked hard would be wasted.

He reiterated that New Zealand would not leave level four early and that the border restrictions would be in place for “a long time to come.”

She will give a post cabinet press conference today at 4pm.

Next Monday the cabinet will decide whether New Zealand will drop to alert level three starting April 23.

Ardern will describe what life will be like under Alert Level 3 on Thursday this week.

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