New Zealand / Covid 19

Child is youngest person with Covid-19 to die in NZ - MoH data

20:01 pm on 17 December 2021

A boy under the age of 10 has become the youngest person with Covid-19 to die in New Zealand, according to data on the Ministry of Health website.

Photo: 123RF

In today's update of the numbers on the Ministry's official website, one death has been recorded in the 0-9 age group.

That age group had no deaths listed 24 hours ago and was last updated today. The data says the child is a Māori boy, registered to the Counties Manukau DHB.

The death was not reported in today's 1pm update from the Ministry.

There have now been 49 deaths of people with Covid-19.

The youngest age group has recorded 2201 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began - 16.5 percent of all cases.

The Ministry of Health says the child was tested after he died and returned a positive result.

It was not known that the child who died with Covid-19 had the virus until after his death.

The Ministry said the child was a contact of an identified case.

The death remains under investigation and has been referred to the coroner.

The previous youngest death was one person in their 30s, with four in the forties with the coronavirus also passing away.

There were 76 new community cases of the coronavirus reported in New Zealand today.

The updated data from the Ministry of Health website. Photo: Health Ministry