Covid 19 coronavirus: Rosewood Resthome cluster origin changed to 'unknown', not 'overseas exposure'

Investigations into how a deadly coronavirus outbreak started at a Christchurch rest home are ongoing - and the suggestion "overseas exposure" was the origin has been removed from the Ministry of Health website.

Health authorities announced yesterday a 90-year-old woman who lived at Rosewood Resthome and Hospital in Linwood had died in Burwood Hospital, after earlier contracting the virus. She had underlying health conditions.

The ministry's website listed the cluster's origin as "overseas exposure", but last night Canterbury DHB told the Herald that information was incorrect and had been changed to "unknown".

The DHB has previously said it was highly likely a staff member brought the virus into the unit, given strict visiting restrictions under the alert level 4 nationwide lockdown.

Rosewood Resthome in Christchurch. Photo / Facebook

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The deceased resident - the second coronavirus-related death in New Zealand - was moved last Monday with 19 other residents to Burwood Hospital, to isolate together and try stop the virus spreading to those in other wings of the rest home.

Canterbury DHB chief executive David Meates has now authorised more residents to move out, after failing to find replacement workers for the large number of staff now in self-isolation.

Twenty residents will move to other aged-care facilities providing hospital-level care over the next week. That will leave 24 residents at Rosewood, which is undergoing thorough cleaning.

"We know this is disruptive for both residents and their whānau, but under the present circumstances it is the safest option while we're unable to find appropriate staff to work at Rosewood to provide care to this group of vulnerable older people," Meates said.

Meates has also appointed an acting manager for the rest home, saying this was because the facility manager was in self-isolation, as were other staff.

The first Rosewood case was confirmed on April 3, and there are now 28. This number includes 15 staff (5 confirmed and 10 probable) and 13 residents (6 confirmed, 7 probable).

Clusters have increasingly become the centre of the New Zealand coronavirus epidemic, overtaking overseas transmission as the main source of the virus. The Ministry of Health defines a cluster as a group of Covid-19 cases linked because those infected were in the same place.