85 new cases of coronavirus in New Zealand
Covid-19
update: 85 new
cases, one person in
intensive care
27
March, 2020
There
have been 85 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, with one man
in his 70s now in intensive care, the Health Ministry has confirmed
As
the country is in its second day of the Covid-19 lockdown, government
officials are providing the latest health and national response
updates.
Director
General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there have now been 368
cases in New Zealand
He
said while 37 individuals have recovered, there are eight people in
hospital, six of whom are stable and two who are not.
A
man in his 70s is in intensive care in Nelson Hospital and had been
there for several days, before deteriorating in the past 24 hours. Dr
Bloomfield said the man was on a ventilator and had underlying health
conditions.
The
other person not in a stable condition is in Wellington Regional
Hospital. Dr Bloomfield said they were still on the ward, but the
condition was “not quite so stable”.
Those
who have recovered from Covid-19 are signed off by a health official
after being symptom free for a 14 day period.
More
than 2500 retired health workers have signed up to help with the
Covid-19 response, he said.
Director
of Civil Defence Emergency Management Sarah Stuart-Black said while
most people were complying with the lockdown, there were several
incidents of people gathering and police responded to those.
She
said these measures are the best thing New Zealanders could do to
break the chain of infections.
“We
know that things are really tough right now, especially for people
living with mental illness.”
She
recommended sticking to a regular routine including exercise.
