New Delhi: An employee from the New Zealand high commission to India succumbed to COVID-19 in New Delhi, RNZ reported.New Zealand’s foreign affairs minister Nanaia Mahuta said the man, an Indian citizen, died in hospital two days ago. The staffer in question was the same person for whom the embassy had tweeted out an appeal for help from the Indian Youth Congress which subsequently delivered oxygen cylinders to the embassy.“As you can imagine, we’ve given the embassy time to process what’s happened,” she said. “Everyone was living on compound like a family. Our thoughts and aroha are with the family at this time.”The staff member had started working at the Commission in 1986 under Sir Edmund Hillary, who was high commissioner at the time.In May, the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi tweeted an appeal to the Youth Congress for medical oxygen, causing a spat on Twitter between Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar. The MEA also stepped into the fray by stating that “all are urged not to hoard essential supplies, including oxygen”.The high commission’s tweet was later deleted, followed by an apology from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying that the high commission should have used “normal channels and protocols” to seek an oxygen cylinder. However, she had pointed out that there had been a “very unwell” staff member.We are trying all sources to arrange for oxygen cylinders urgently and our appeal has unfortunately been misinterpreted, for which we are sorry.— NZ in India (@NZinIndia) May 2, 2021At the time, it had confirmed several locally hired staff had COVID-19, one was seriously unwell and no New Zealand diplomatic staff in India had the virus.Mahuta confirmed that the plea for oxygen from the high commission had been for this staff member.Also read: India’s COVID-19 Disaster Has Changed Our Relationship With DeathMeanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) told RNZ that two New Zealand employees in New Delhi had flown home since the latest surge in COVID-19 cases in India.An MFAT spokesperson told RNZ that the high commission in New Delhi had enough medical equipment and supplies to treat unwell staff or family members who lived in the compound.“More broadly, we have provisions in place to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 to staff and their families overseas. All outbound New Zealand staff are vaccinated against COVID-19, and posted staff can choose to return to New Zealand.”Meanwhile, amid a rising number of COVID-19 cases in India, Prime Minister Ardern said the government has no plans to facilitate charter flights to return New Zealanders from India. Some of the charter flights only become viable when there are several hundred people wanting to travel, Ardern said.According to data from the Union health ministry, India reported 2,76,070 new COVID-19 cases and 3,874 deaths in the last 24 hours.