Two new Covid-19 cases today

There are two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today.

Both cases are in managed isolation and tested positive on day three of their stay.

The first case is a man in his 60s who arrived from Pakistan on July 10. He is at the Sudima Hotel in Rotorua.

The second case is a woman in her 50s who arrived on July 10 from Dublin. She is staying at the same hotel.

Minister of Education Chris Hipkins. Photo: NZ Herald

There are currently 27 active cases, director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said.

None of these patients require hospital care.

A total of 2061 tests were completed nationally yesterday.

Bloomfield said that updated advice was also issued to health professionals yesterday about testing in the community, including testing people at higher risk of complications, including the elderly with respiratory issues.

The updated advice included that just a throat swab was an acceptable test to use on this group of people.

Bloomfield said those waiting on test results at an Auckland managed isolation facility were delivered to those waiting last night. He said the results weren't missing, but they had taken a little longer to process.

The director general said testing and contact tracing were the pillars of avoiding future lockdowns, and it was important for people to keep good records of movements to enable contact tracing.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins said if anyone was recommended to have a Covid test he strongly encouraged them to do so.

Elimination was still the Government's goal and breaking the chain of transmission was uppermost in their strategy to keep the country free from Covid.

Hipkins said a test of the contact tracing initiative would be undertaken by a district health board by the end of August.

"We can't be complacent and we do need to be prepared. If [an outbreak] were to happen there were not enough New Zealanders was using the app," he said.

"Please step up your efforts, scan wherever you go and keep track of your movements."

Hipkins said he wanted everybody in New Zealand to be using the Covid Tracer app.

There was a degree of complacency when it came to tracking movements electronically.

"Life is back to normal for the bulk of New Zealanders and it's not front of mind for people. My message is now is the time to be vigilant and use it."

Hipkins was not ruling out making poster display and app use compulsory.

There was now the ability to retrospectively add information about where you had visited, which was a significant improvement to the app.