Covid death confirmed
As New Zealand reports 22nd virus-related death, an online seller is hawking bleach
An elderly woman who died in Auckland last week has been confirmed as New Zealand’s 22nd Covid-19 death.
A death notice for Eileen Hunter, a resident at St Margaret’s rest home, said the 96-year-old died “due to Covid-19” on May 24.
Hunter’s family believes she contracted the deadly virus during an outbreak that infected staff and patients.
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield says Hunter’s death will now be treated as being related to Covid-19.
Hunter had been confirmed as having Covid19 in April and recovered in hospital and had two negative test results since then, he said.
Bloomfield also announced yesterday that there were no new Covid-19 cases.
Twelve more people had recovered in the previous 24 hours. There are now only eight active cases.
It is now six days since a new case was discovered, a record since the start of the pandemic.
The total tally of confirmed and probable cases stands at 1504.
Second wave?
The World Health Organisation has reminded countries about relaxing restrictions as epidemics come in waves and another wave was a possibility in NZ for months to come.
A potential risk was aircrew coming into the country, said Bloomfield, and the Ministry of Health was working with airlines on ways to strengthen the current guidelines further.
Bloomfield said the virus has a long tail and the death reported yesterday shows how long the impact of the disease and how long after infection people had tested positive was why New Zealand would be at alert level 2 for a time.
Bleach warning
A New Zealand website is advising people with symptoms of coronavirus to drink or inhale a bleach product sold by the Hauraki Plains-based “bishop” of a cult-like American organisation.
But experts warn that the product — chlorine dioxide — is dangerous, should not be taken, and will not cure Covid-19.
Ngatea man Roger Blake, who sells the bleach through his online business NZ Water Purifier Limited, is a “bishop”’ of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. The “church” originated in Florida and is not religious.
Its sole function is to promote the use of the bleach formula that it calls Miracle Mineral Supplement, or MMS, which its followers also sell.
To become a “bishop” of the church, people can download a $320 video course.
Various claims about MMS made by Genesis II leaders include that it can cure HIV, hepatitis, acne, cancer and now Covid-19.
Blake told RNZ that millions of people around the world have “overcome” everything from cancer, to HIV to autism using MMS, that “thousands” of New Zealanders take it, and that he’s seen an increase in the sale of the product since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Medical researcher Dr Shaun Holt said products with names like MMS, Miracle Mineral Solution, Miracle Mineral Supplement, CD protocol or similar, have been around for a long time.
“I’ve been giving warnings about this for 10 years now. It goes without saying it’s extremely dangerous to consume it. It’s industrial strength bleach.
“There’s not a jot of scientific evidence that it can help anything.”