Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has revealed there are 85 new cases of Covid-19, including 76 confirmed cases and nine probable.
Thirty-seven people have now recovered. There are eight people in hospital, including one in intensive care.
The person in intensive care was in Nelson Hospital and was on ventilation. They had "significant" underlying health issues.
They had been in hospital for some time, but their condition had deteriorated in the past 24 hours.
Another person in Wellington Hospital was in a worse condition than the stable patients, but was not in intensive care.
The total of confirmed and probable cases is now 368 in New Zealand.
Dr Bloomfield said no new clusters had been found.
The known clusters, include the World Hereford Conference in Queenstown.
"There is a small number of clusters we continue to investigate."
Bloomfield again called on anyone who was waiting to hear back about a test to stay in self-isolation.
The capacity for testing was now at 2000 per day , which was on a par with Germany on a per person basis, Bloomfield said.
A strong link to overseas travel was still being seen in New Zealand cases, he said.
The Government is circulating appropriate advice on personal protection equipment (PPE) and this will be on the Ministry of Health's website later today.
The Government's national pandemic supply of PPE consists of:
• 1.9 million aprons and gowns
• 2.7 million gloves
• 670,000 eye protection equipment
"All stones are being turned over" to make sure there is enough PPEs for all healthcare works in New Zealand," Bloomfield said.
It would take between a week and ten days for the number of cases to "turn around" and that was reliant on New Zealanders doing "their bit" and following the lockdown rules.
More special powers for the Government may be used as the lockdown continues.
A total of 2500 retired health professionals had returned to the workforce to help with the Covid-19 outbreak response, Bloomfield said.
It would take a week to 10 days for the number of Covid-19 cases to come down.
"These are unprecedented times for New Zealand, and internationally," Bloomfield said.
He also confirmed that 37 people have recovered from Covid-19 and, so far, 12,683 tests have been carried out.
There a now more than half a million cases of Covid-19 worldwide and 24,000 confirmed deaths.
Isolated reports of lockdown breaches
Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management Sarah Stuart-Black clarified that it was OK for people to go for a walk "locally" - but people were going to places where they may need others to come help them if they get in to trouble.
That was not allowed, she said.
People were asked to stay out of the water because if they got into trouble they would need others to come and help them.
She reiterated that people should stay in their bubbles.
People should "use their judgment" when selecting exercise options.
Stuart-Black thanked people for mostly staying home.
Information from the police suggested that generally, people were doing the right thing.
However, there were isolated reports of some people congregating.
Stuart-Black said those people were reminded about their obligations at level four.
Over the coming days, the number of Covid-19 cases will continue to rise – "hang in there", was her advice.
Work and Income payments, such as the benefit, would continue while New Zealand was in lockdown.
Stuart-Black said if someone is a visitor to New Zealand and needed financial support, they should contact their embassy.
Southern cases surged yesterday
Southern cases of Covid-19 surged past 30 yesterday, as the Ministry of Health warned the number of cases of the potentially fatal pandemic disease will keep rising for at least the next 10 days.
The majority of the 12 new cases in the South had some connection to the World Hereford Conference in Queenstown — an event now linked to 15 of New Zealand’s Covid-19 cases — as well as some overseas cases.
In addition, the SDHB confirmed at least one Covid-19 case attended the Wanaka A&P Show, an event which attracted thousands of visitors.
The Ministry of Health yesterday released statistics from New Zealand’s Covid-19 cases; with 31, the South ranked fourth behind Auckland (45), Capital and Coast (39) and Waikato (34) among the 20 DHBs.
Across New Zealand, 283 people had contracted Covid-19; 27 of those had now recovered.
With ODT
