There has been a fifth Covid-19-related death in New Zealand, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has announced today.
Making the announcement on day 19 of Alert Level 4, Dr Bloomfield said there were also 19 new cases, made up of 15 confirmed cases and four probable cases.
The total number of cases is now 1349, with five deaths. He said 546 people had recovered, an increase of 75 from yesterday.
The fifth victim - a man in his 80s from the Rosewood Rest Home cluster - died at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch.
There are now 33 cases in the Rosewood cluster, 17 confirmed and 16 probable.
So far, three people who have died were from Rosewood. Canterbury DHB is investigating how Covid-19 got into the rest home. The first two were a 90-year-old woman and a man in his 70s. Fears remained for other dementia patients from the home.
Across the country there are 15 people in hospital, four of them in ICU. One is in a critical condition, in Dunedin Hospital.
Dr Bloomfield said the country needed to be prepared for "more possible deaths."
There are now 15 clusters in New Zealand - one new one is another rest home.
But the last couple of days should serve as a reminder why the Government implemented the lockdown.
"Our battle with this virus is far from over," she said. "Our number of cases may be small," but she said that does not show the battle is over.
She said New Zealand is not in a position to move out of level four.
"New Zealand does not take this lightly, and neither should you," she said of rule breakers caught over the weekend.
She called level three a "waiting room".
"This is a place we go while we are checking we have things genuinely under control."
Tomorrow, the Treasury will be releasing unemployment and economic information.
- NZ Herald/RNZ
