An Invercargill man may have become the first person in New Zealand to die of Covid-19 at home.
The Ministry of Health was last night working to determine if the man, aged in his 70s, had died from the disease.
It came as three new cases of Covid-19 were announced in the South.
In yesterday’s media briefing, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said he was aware of the Invercargill man’s death, but could not confirm if it was connected to the virus.
The ministry was investigating, he said.
Emergency services were called to the Kingswell house on Tuesday night.
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, told The New Zealand Herald he was watching TV when he first noticed something was happening outside on the street.
He saw ambulance and fire brigade vehicles before at least three police cars arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, he said.
The resident said he had worried for his neighbours at the house, an elderly couple who had lived there for at least 20 years.
The man said he could not get to sleep after seeing what was happening and stayed awake into the early hours.
"Just before midnight, they took a stretcher inside the house and took someone out, and then a hearse arrived.
"It was a hell of a shock."
Police said they were called to the house about 8.45pm after a report of a sudden death.
A spokesman would not confirm whether or not the death was related to Covid-19, only that it was not being treated as suspicious.
No new deaths from Covid-19 were officially reported by the ministry yesterday.
There were three new cases of Covid-19 in the Southern District Health Board area, taking its total to 213.
Two of those were in the Queenstown-Lakes district, and one was in Dunedin.
It remained the district with the highest number in the country, ahead of Waitemata (210) and Auckland (182).
Of the southern cases to date, 116 people had recovered.
There were 20 new cases across the country: six confirmed cases and 14 probable cases.
It brought the total number of cases in New Zealand to 1386.
One person remained in Dunedin Hospital’s intensive care unit, in a critical condition.
Dr Bloomfield announced a new cluster, connected to an aged-care facility in Auckland.
The Bluff wedding cluster remained one of the most significant, with 89 Covid-19 cases linked to the event, up three from Tuesday. It is the cluster with the second-highest number of linked cases, behind Auckland's Marist College, which has 92.
— Additional reporting NZ Herald
