There have been no new cases nor deaths from COVID-19 in New Zealand in the last 24 hours, the Director-General of Health has revealed.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield made the announcement during the daily 1pm media conference from the Beehive Theatrette on Tuesday afternoon.
Despite the lack of no new cases, the total number of people infected by the disease rises by four to 1503, due to the addition of cases who were not previously counted in New Zealand's tally.
These four people were confirmed cases who returned to New Zealand from the Greg Mortimer cruise ship in April. Uruguay did not report the cases to the World Health Organization (WHO), so they have now been added to our total.
All four of these people have now recovered, so the number of active coronavirus cases in New Zealand is unaffected by their late addition.
Of our 1503 cases, 1153 are confirmed and 350 probable, while the number of recoveries has jumped to 1442 - an increase of nine on Monday.
Two people remain hospitalised at Middlemore and Auckland Hospitals, but neither are in intensive care.
There were 3125 tests processed on Monday, taking the total of completed tests in New Zealand to 233,843.
During his briefing, Dr Bloomfield also reported back from the WHO's world health assembly on Monday, an event that hosted world leaders such as Germany's Angela Merkel, France's Emmanuel Macron and China's Xi Jinping.
"All had the same theme, which was strong support for global cooperation in the response to COVID-19," he said.
During the meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom announced that he intends to initiate an independent evaluation of the COVID-19 response.
The purpose of the review is to "develop recommendations which will help improve national and global pandemic preparedness in light of the COVID-19 experience", Dr Bloomfield said.
He confirmed New Zealand would contribute to the review where it can.
Dr Bloomfield also used the briefing to mark World Doctor Day, thanking New Zealand's 5500 GPs for the "magnificent role" they have played in response to COVID-19 - including swabbing, CBACs and adapting to virtual appointments.
He also reminded Kiwis that its tracking app will launch on Wednesday.
