There are two new confirmed cases and no new deaths from COVID-19 in New Zealand, the Director of Public Health has announced.
One of the cases is a Waitemata DHB nurse linked to the St Margarets Rest Home cluster, Dr Caroline McElnay revealed at a media briefing from the Beehive on Friday.
The nurse had been looking after the rest home's patients at Waitakare Hospital, and was amongst the close contacts of another positive case announced last week. Affected areas at Waitakere Hospital remain closed.
The other case is a previously probable case already known to the Ministry of Health that has now been confirmed, Dr McElnay said.
This reduces the overall number of probable cases by one, but the two new confirmed cases bring New Zealand's combined total to 1490 - an increase of one on Thursday.
Of those who have contracted the disease in New Zealand, 1347 - 90 percent - have now recovered.
Three people are in hospital due to COVID-19, although none are intensive care. They have been admitted at Auckland Hospital, Middlemore Hospital and North Shore Hospital.
There are still 16 significant clusters, Dr McElnay said. The George Manning Rest Home cluster in Christchurch has closed in the last 24 hours, however, bringing the total number of closed clusters to four.
New Zealand's laboratories completed a record-high number of tests on Thursday - 7812 - and the total number of tests completed to date is now 175,835, which equates to 3.5 percent of the population.
Those figures put New Zealand in the top 20 countries per capita per testing, Dr McElnay explained.
"Testing remains an essential part of our elimination strategy, because that's the starting point for identifying and containing the spread of the virus," she said.
"Throughout level 3, and when we move into level 2 and outside our bubbles, we need to maintain our focus on ensuring all those who have symptoms are tested, cases are isolated and any close contacts are identified and quarantined."
Dr McElnay says DHBs are now submitting updated health plans to make sure these steps are taken.
She urges Kiwis to "play it safe" to prevent a second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak - this means not attending parties and staying within your region until alert level 3 restrictions lift.
