Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
There has been just one new confirmed case of COVID-19 in New Zealand, and four new probable cases, the Health Ministry has revealed.
But Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says there has been one more death due to the coronavirus in New Zealand, bringing the total to 19.
He said the latest victim was a woman in her 90s, who was a resident at St Margaret’s Rest Home in Auckland.
She had underlying health conditions and was part of a group from the rest home who had been transferred to Waitakere Hospital.
He said the overall numbers of cases in New Zealand had dropped by one.
“In the context of our overall total, six cases – which were previously probable, have been reclassified as either still under investigation, or not a case. So that means our current national total is now 1469, and that’s a net reduction of one.”
Dr Bloomfield said 1180 people had now recovered from COVID-19, an increase of 38 on yesterday.
“This means around 80 percent of our cases are now recovered.
He said there were seven people in hospital, including one person in ICU in Middlemore.
There are now 16 significant clusters in the country, and one case in Tauranga still being investigated.
“This is a tricky virus and that’s why we’re not going to reduce our vigilance one bit. If anything we need to increase our vigilance because that will directly impact when we can move down to alert levels further.”
