Man in his 60s becomes tenth person from Christchurch's Rosewood Rest Home to die of Covid-19

April 24, 2020

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay confirmed the news today.

Another man has died of Covid-19 in New Zealand, bringing the nation's death toll to 17.

The man in his 60s from Rosewood Rest Home has become the 10th victim from the Christchurch aged care facility.

The man, who was being cared for at Rosewood's hospital wing, had underlying health conditions.

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay confirmed the news in a press conference today.

"This illustrates once again the impact that this disease can have on vulnerable people," she said.

"Every person we lose to Covid-19 is a tragedy, with family and friends left without their loved ones."

She could not confirm whether or not family was able to be with the man when he died, and said details around whether or not family can be allowed in is still being worked out.

"It's not a blanket no, we will be working with families and with the clinical staff to enable that where possible.

"I think as we move forward into Level 3 it allows us to be a little bit more relaxed, but at the same time to have really tight management for those patients who are Covid-19 confirmed or probable."

Visitor access to places like aged care facilities would continue to have tight access though because of the vulnerabilities of residents, she said.

Today, there were five new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, bringing the total number of people who have or have had the virus to 1456.

The new cases are made up of two confirmed cases and three probable cases. One case is linked to overseas travel, three are linked to existing clusters in New Zealand and the remaining new case is still under investigation, but possibly linked to travel.

There are currently eight people in hospitals throughout the country with Covid-19. One of those people is in Middlemore Hospital in intensive care.

Now, 1095 people have recovered from the coronavirus, up on 30 from yesterday.

There are still 16 significant Covid-19 clusters in New Zealand, but 379 people who were part of those clusters have now recovered.

Yesterday was a new record for Covid-19 testing in New Zealand with 6961 tests carried out. In total 108,238 tests have been carried out in New Zealand.

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