There have been two new cases of COVID-19 detected in the past 24 hours, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said on Saturday afternoon.
They are a couple who returned from India and arrived on June 5. Both are in their 20s. Both were asymptomatic, but the infection was picked up on the day 12 test while in managed isolation.
They have a baby who has not yet been tested. All three were on an Air India repatriation flight from Delhi, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get Kiwis home.
There have now been 1509 confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand. On Friday there were 7707 tests done, bringing the total to 335,167. Both new cases were detected in the Counties-Manukau DHB area.
The total number of confirmed cases is now 1159. The death toll remains at 22. There is no one in hospital with COVID-19 at present.
Dr Bloomfield said it's likely we'll see more cases at the border, with the pandemic's spread accelerating overseas. Daily new confirmed cases topped 150,000 for the first time this week, with 181,000 new infections reported on June 19.
Dr Bloomfield warned Kiwis against stigmatising those with the virus, saying we've had so few cases of the disease that each tends to get a lot more coverage than those overseas.
