Today New Zealand's total number of COVID-19 cases has increased by 8, made up of 2 new confirmed cases and 6 new probable cases – all linked to confirmed cases or outbreaks.
The new combined total of confirmed and probable cases in New Zealand is 1409.
Sadly, there are two further deaths to report today.
One death occurred in Waikato Hospital – that person was a man in his 90s who died yesterday. He had been living at home with family, and was admitted to hospital on Saturday night very unwell. The man had a connection to the Matamata cluster. While the man's family was not with him when he passed away, staff at Waikato Hospital provided support to the man and his family to care for him in his final days.
The second death is a woman in her 80s who died at Burwood Hospital yesterday. She was part of the group of 20 Rosewood residents who were transferred to Burwood on April 6. The woman had an underlying health condition. Her family was also not able to be with her, but a staff member at Burwood Hospital was with the woman when she passed away.
Sadly there have now been 7 deaths from the group of Rosewood residents who were moved to Burwood – there are 5 other cases who remain stable at present, but this is a group of frail, elderly people.
This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in New Zealand to 11.
There are now 816 reported cases of COVID-19 who have recovered – an increase of 46 on yesterday.
Today there are 14 people in hospital with COVID-19. The total includes 3 people in ICU – one each in Middlemore, Dunedin, and North Shore hospitals.
Two of these ICU patients – in Dunedin and North Shore – are in a critical condition.
There are still 16 significant clusters – no change from yesterday. 15 more cases have been connected to clusters.
4241 tests were processed yesterday, with a rolling 7-day average of 2674 and total tests to date of 74,401.
New Zealand is increasing the amount of testing and expanding the pool of those being tested for COVID-19 to include anyone with respiratory symptoms.
We are encouraging anyone who displays COVID-19 symptoms to get tested, and we are encouraging the DHBs to increase their testing.
The level of community transmission in New Zealand is currently low and most of the cases that have been diagnosed with COVID-19 have links to overseas travel or close contacts of other cases.
