By RNZ.co.nz. Republished with permission.
There are 205 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today and a person has died from the coronavirus.
In a statement the Ministry of Health (MOH) said Counties Manukau Health reported the death of a man in his 40s at Middlemore Hospital.
“No further information will be released until conversations with the man’s family have concluded. Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends at this deeply sad time.”
Of the new cases, 175 were in Auckland, 20 in Waikato, five in Bay of Plenty, one in TaupÅ and four in Northland.
Another case in Palmerston North was not included in today’s figures as it was recorded after the morning cut-off for reporting. It will be recorded in tomorrow’s figures.
There are 85 people in hospital including six people in ICU.
In addition, the MOH said 91 percent of eligible people in New Zealand had their first dose and 83 percent were fully vaccinated.
So far, more than 1.1 million My Vaccine Passes have been created.
There are also changes to saliva testing requirements.
“The ministry has updated the position on the use of saliva for diagnostic testing for Covid-19, based on an updated review of the evidence and results of testing in New Zealand,” the MOH said.
“This means saliva testing for surveillance purposes for some groups of workers can be reduced from twice weekly to once a week, and there is no need for a follow-up nasopharyngeal swab to confirm a positive saliva test result.”
Yesterday there wereĀ 149 community cases of Covid-19Ā reported, nine of them were outside Auckland with six in Waikato, two in Bay of Plenty and one in Canterbury.
Prime MinisterĀ Jacinda ArdernĀ today said that she was confident district health boards would be able to cope with Covid-19 pressures over the summer.
