New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has reported 139 new community cases of covid-19 today, with 64 people now in hospital with the coronavirus.
In a statement, the ministry said two of the new cases were in Waikato and one was in Northland, with the remaining cases were all in Auckland.
The Northland case — which takes the total number of cases in the region to 15 – is a close contact of the two previously reported Taipa cases and has been isolating at home.
The two new cases confirmed in the Waikato overnight are both from Hamilton, and are known contacts of previous cases.
The ministry said 72 of today’s cases were still to be linked. There have been 452 unlinked cases in the past 14 days.
There were also three new cases reported at the border.
Five of the 64 cases in hospital are in intensive care.
Self-isolating person dies
ast night the ministry announced the death of a person who had covid-19 and was isolating at home in Auckland.
The person tested positive for covid-19 on October 24 and had been self-isolating in Manukau.
The ministry said the cause of death was unknown and the coroner would determine whether it was due to the virus or something else.
It said today it was aware of speculation that the death was vaccine related, “but we can confirm it was not”.
“The Northern Region Health Coordination Centre and the Ministry will undertake an incident review of the public health and clinical oversight of this person with independent input.”
There were 100 new cases reported yesterday – 97 in Auckland and three in Waikato.
There have now been 3871 cases in the current outbreak.
There were 26,999 vaccine doses administered yesterday, including 6659 first doses and 20,340 second doses. The ministry said 89 percent of New Zealanders had now had their first dose and 77 percent were fully vaccinated.
“Getting vaccinated will help to stop people from becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 and will save lives,” said the ministry.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
