There are three new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health has announced in a statement.
A press release replaced the Government's daily briefing on Monday, due to the Prime Minister's level 2 announcement beginning at 4pm.
The three new cases bring New Zealand's overall total of combined and probable cases to 1497. Of the total, 1147 are confirmed and 350 are considered probable.
Newshub will have special coverage of the alert level 2 announcement on Three from 4pm. It will also be streamed on newshub.co.nz.
There have been no additional deaths, the death toll remaining at 21.
Two cases are linked to the St Margaret's Hospital and Rest Home in Auckland. The individuals are both nurses at Waitakere Hospital. The third case is a New Zealander who has recently returned from overseas.
Both nurses had been asymptomatic throughout a stand-down period which they spent in precautionary self-isolation at home. They were tested as part of routine requirements for their safe return to work and the results came back positive.
The nurses remain in isolation and are awaiting further testing. Although further cases in clusters cannot be ruled out, the Ministry of Health said, strong precautionary measures remain in place at the hospital and the St Margaret's facility.
Within the last 24 hours, 15 more people have recovered from COVID-19, bringing the number of recoveries to 1386, or 93 percent of all confirmed and probable cases. Ninety cases are still considered as having an "active" infection.
Two people remain hospitalised with the virus, one in Middlemore Hospital and one in North Shore Hospital. Neither are in the ICU.
Sixteen significant clusters remain, although four are now considered closed.
On Sunday, 3865 tests were processed, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 194,191.
Of New Zealand's cases, 71 percent are classified as European or other; 12 percent are Asian; 8 percent are Maori; 5 percent are Pasifika; 2 percent are classified as MELAA (Middle Eastern/Latin American/African) and 1 percent are of an unknown ethnicity.
Fifty-six percent or 832 cases are female, while 44 percent or 664 cases are male. Only one case is unspecified.
The 20-to-29-year-old age bracket has the highest number of cases, with 358 of the country's total, or 23 percent, falling within that demographic.
