New Zealand recorded its first death from Covid-19 in six months on Friday, although health officials said on Saturday they had brought the latest wave linked to the Delta variant under control.
A 90-year-old woman, who had comorbidities and could not be ventilated or receive intensive care, died in a hospital in Auckland (north) overnight from Friday to Saturday.
She is the 27th person to die from Covid-19 in New Zealand and the first since February 16 this year.
According to authorities, she was infected by a member of her household in Auckland, the country's main city with a population of around 1.7 million.
Level 4 confinement in Auckland
New Zealand has been grappling with the Covid-19 epidemic since the first locally transmitted case in six months, detected in mid-August, leading to the confinement of the country of five million people.
Since then, 782 cases have been recorded, mainly in Auckland, which remains at containment level 4, the maximum, while the rest of the country has been reduced to level 3.
This passing is "a deeply sad reminder of why the actions we are taking now are so important," said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
"Our older New Zealanders and those with underlying health conditions are by far the most exposed to the virus and this is one of the reasons why containment measures are such an important tool in stopping its spread.
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Only 20 new positive cases were reported on Saturday, down from 84 new cases reported last weekend, at the peak of the last wave.
Public health director Caroline McEnlay called the decrease in the number of new cases "encouraging" over the past week.
“We manage to break the chain of transmission,” she said.
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