New Zealand has had its second death linked to COVID-19, it was confirmed today (Friday April 10). 

“The second death is in a woman in her 90s at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch, where she passed away yesterday,” director of public health Dr Caroline McElnay said at today’s media briefing.

The woman had recently returned a positive test for COVID-19, Caroline said.

New Zealand’s first death linked to COVID-19 was on March 29, when a 73-year-old woman with underlying health issues died in Grey Base Hospital on the West Coast. 

“And as in that case, the country’s thoughts will be with the Christchurch woman’s family and loved ones at this time,” Caroline said. 

The Christchurch woman who died yesterday was one of a group of 20 residents transferred from Rosewood Rest Home and Hospital to Burwood Hospital earlier in the week as part of the Canterbury District Health Board’s cluster management process. Those residents were relocated to a ward at Burwood, to allow them to isolate together in a group bubble, Caroline said. 

“The woman who sadly died had experienced a number of common age related health conditions, prior to her testing positive earlier this week,” Caroline said.

Some other residents from the rest home were symptomatic and being tested, Caroline said.

“This latest sad news reinforces the importance of our move to alert level four, and the measures we are all taking to limit spread, break the chain of transmission, and prevent deaths.”

There are 16 people in hospital with COVID-19 today, including five in ICU (in Wellington, Waitemata, Counties Manukau, Hawkes Bay and Southern district health boards).

“Two of these ICU patients, in Southern and Waitemata, are in critical condition,” Caroline said. 

New Zealand has 44 new cases of COVID-19, made up of 23 new confirmed cases and 21 new probable cases. This brings the combined total to 1,283 cases.

Speaking about the uptick in cases today, Caroline said: “It confirms that we can’t be too complacent about the numbers we’re seeing...We’re not out of the woods.”

Fourteen of the new cases are linked to existing clusters, Caroline said, and New Zealand still has 12 significant clusters.

She said 373 people have now recovered from COVID-19, an increase of 56 on yesterday. “We can continue to report that we have more people recovered than new combined cases.”

For the cases the Ministry of Health has information on, links to overseas travel remain strong at 40 per cent, as well as links to confirmed cases at 44 per cent. Community transmission has been confirmed in two per cent of cases and 14 per cent remain under investigation. 

PHOTO: Supplied