Covid deaths clarified

A FURTHER two southerners have died with Covid19 and 28 remain in hospital.

The two deaths were among 32 new deaths announced by the Ministry of Health yesterday, recorded over a six week period.

The ministry also released new statistics about the more than 1000 New Zealanders who have died while Covid positive, offering greater detail as to how they died.

So far, 447 people had died with Covid19 as the underlying cause of death, the Ministry said.

Of these, 439 died within 28 days of being reported as a case.

A further 231 people have died with Covid19 as a contributing cause of death, while 161 people had a cause of death incidental to their case of Covid19.

A further 138 deaths were yet to be classified.

In Otago and Southland yesterday, a further 737 new community cases of Covid19 were reported.