Dr Ashley Bloom has just announced that 40 new cases have been detected in New Zealand as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 24. This brings the number to 155 including the probable new cases yet to be confirmed.
The probable cases' tests have come back negative, however there symptoms and history resemble very much to Covid-19 sickness.
From now onwards, authorities will be announcing confirmed plus probable cases together.
Six cases were in the hospital, and they are all stable, and none of them required ICU treatment.
Overseas travel still the biggest driver of Covid-19 infection.
The Ministry of Health has details for one-third of the 40 new cases.
They include four cases of community transmission - three in Auckland, one in Wairarapa.
He said there were now 155 confirmed and probable cases, and 12 people have now recovered from the virus.
Six people are now in hospital, and all are in a stable condition. No cases have been taken to ICU.
There have now been more than 8300 completed tests in New Zealand.
The three probable cases are people who have returned a negative result from testing, but they are clinically treated as probable because of their connection with other cases.
Dr Bloomfield said recent travel back from overseas was still the main driver of Covid-19 cases in this country.
There is one confirmed case of Covid-19 in a rest home, Dr Bloomfield says he has no knowledge of any member of the public health service being infected.
The country enters level 4 alert status from 11.59 pm on Wednesday. It will be a full lockdown, for a minimum of four weeks.
Confirmed cases in New Zealand rose by 36 to 102 yesterday. The Ministry of Health has been unable to link two of the cases to travel or known cases, pointing to community transmission
People are again queuing up at supermarkets despite pleas from store owners and the government to shop normally. Panic buying yesterday saw enough food to feed 10 million people taken from the supermarket shelves.
The government has announced $330m of funding set aside for the aviation sector will be used to help ensure air freight capacity on key routes for at least the next six months. The focus is on the transport of medicines, medical supplies and high-value exports.
The Ministry of Social Development is moving its services to phone and online-only as Work and Income offices prepare to close during the lockdown.
More to come.