New Zealand: New Zealand recorded its first COVID-related death in six months on Saturday, but health authorities said there are signs that the highly contagious Delta variant outbreak is being brought under control.
On Friday night, a woman in her 90s who had underlying health problems was unable to get ventilator or intensive care support, died in an Oakland hospital.
The committee considered the woman’s death was due to myocarditis, which is known to be a rare side effect of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, which can limit the ability of the organ to pump blood and cause changes in heart rhythm.
She is the 27th person to die from Covid19 in New Zealand and the first recorded death since February 16 this year. Authorities said the woman was a household contact of a man in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city (population approximately 1.7 million), who tested positive for the virus.
Since the first case of local transmission in six months was discovered in mid-August, New Zealand has been battling the coronavirus outbreak, which has put 5 million people locked up in the country. Since then, 782 cases have been reported, mainly in Auckland, which is still at the highest level of restrictions, while restrictions in other parts of the country have been relaxed.