NZ reports 1st Covid-19 death in over 6 months
WELLINGTON: New Zealand reported its first coronavirus death in more than six months on Saturday, while the number of new cases continued to trend downward. Health authorities said the woman who died was in her 90s and had underlying health problems.
Authorities reported 20 new community cases, all in the largest city of Auckland.
New Zealand remains in lockdown as it tries to eliminate an outbreak of the Delta variant that began last month.
New cases in the outbreak have steadily fallen from a peak of more than 80 each day. New Zealand has so far escaped the worst of the pandemic and has reported just 27 coronavirus deaths since it began.
In Australia, the most populous state of New South Wales reported a record 1,533 new daily coronavirus cases, with the state’s creaking health system braced for a peak in hospitalisations in October.
The number of people being treated for the virus in hospital rose above 1,000 for the first time and is expected to climb in the coming weeks. The state’s premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Friday she would outline a plan next week on how the health system would handle the surge.
New South Wales’ ambulance service is making contingency plans to draft in police and firefighters to drive ambulances to help deal with increasing patient numbers, Brad Hazzard, the state’s health minister, told reporters on Saturday.
Mu variant reported
Three cases of the Mu variant were identified in South Korea from those who visited Mexico, the US and Colombia, according to a statement from Korea Disease Control & Prevention Agency. Authorities will strengthen monitoring of the variant, according to the statement.
Children were much more likely to be hospitalised as the Delta variant became widespread, two studies from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday found.
But children did not appear to contract more serious illness, requiring intensive care, for example, than in previous viral surges. The share of hospitalised young people who had indications of more serious illness remained similar to earlier in the year and in 2020, the studies found.
Children across Europe are going back to school after 18 months of pandemic disruption.
Italy and Spain are maintaining social distancing and masks for students and staff. Italy also requires teachers to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test, along with Turkey and Greece.