International media has jumped on the story after New Zealand's 24-day run as coronavirus-free was ended this week.
Two infected women were allowed into the country from the United Kingdom earlier this month but were then allowed to roam from their managed isolation in Auckland last week after they were given compassionate leave to attend a funeral in Wellington.
In New Zealand media, National leader Todd Muller is calling for "clumsy and incompetent" Health Minister Dr David Clark to be sacked while Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the women have done nothing wrong and don't deserve blame.
'The UK cocking it up again'
UK-based media haven't been so kind to the pair and have been quick to point out the cases came from the UK.
The Sun led with the headline 'New Zealand has first coronavirus cases in 24 days after two travellers from UK enter country....one of whom hid symptoms'.
The Daily Star was even stronger, with their headline 'UK visitors ruin New Zealand's coronavirus-free status, leaving Kiwis fuming'.
Journalist Sophie Bateman wrote New Zealand is "back to square one", with the announcement of the cases "provoking widespread anger at 'the UK cocking it up again'".
"Many Kiwis are outraged that the women were allowed to leave self-isolation early before they had even been tested," she wrote.
"Others are angry at Dr Bloomfield's admission that one of the women was showing 'mild symptoms' of Covid-19 on the day she travelled to Wellington, but assumed it was from a pre-existing condition."
'Unsustainable social and economic losses'
The Daily Mail reports the cases mean New Zealand is still vulnerable to overseas travel despite implementing measures that will send it into a "deeper economic crash than Australia".
"The new cases are a setback for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who last week declared victory over the outbreak after imposing one of the West's toughest lockdowns, at the expense of a greater economic hit than Australia is suffering," it wrote.
"Ardern today doubled down on New Zealand's strict border controls which only let in citizens and residents, and blamed the handling of the two new cases on a lapse in the quarantine rules for new arrivals."
And The Guardian wrote the outbreak shows efforts to stay coronavirus-free require "unsustainable social and economic losses".
"The outbreaks have brought home the stark choices facing leaders who have successfully stamped out the virus or contained its transmission," reporter Emma Graham-Harrison wrote.
"If they want to hold on to that coveted status, their countries face months, perhaps years, sealed off from the world in a way unprecedented in modern times."
Is New Zealand still an international success story?
New Zealand's previous elimination of COVID-19 saw it lauded as an international success story.
Now, US media companies are focusing on how public health officials had warned more cases would inevitably arrive and how they're increasing contact tracing in response.
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has been praised for how she oversaw the eradication of the virus in New Zealand, said Tuesday that new cases are not unexpected," CBS News said.
It then quoted Ardern's comments to reporters: "What this does prove is the importance of a rigorous system at our border, of us continuing to be very, very cautious in our management and taking the cautious approach that we have continued to take as a government."
The US National Public Radio, which said New Zealand is seen as "perhaps the globe's biggest success story in controlling the spread of the virus", listed the measures New Zealand has put in place to manage the outbreak.
"A new case is something we hoped we wouldn't get but is also something we have expected and planned for," it quoted Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield as saying.
"That is why we have geared up, and continue to gear up, our contact tracing at a local level and national capacity and capability as well as having our excellent testing capability so we can respond rapidly."
