The two infected patients are a couple in their 20s who returned from India on a direct repatriation flight and arrived on June 5.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Photo: IANS)
New Zealand on Saturday reported two new COVID-19 cases, after the country registered three infections earlier this week for the first time in 24 days, director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said.
The two infected patients are a couple in their 20s who returned from India on a direct repatriation flight and arrived on June 5.
The couple was also travelling with an infant who has not been tested.
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It is still to be determined if the child is a probable case.
The new infections are a set back to New Zealand, which lifted all social and economic restrictions except border controls last week, declaring it had no new or active cases of the coronavirus, one of the first countries in the world to return to pre-pandemic normality.
Earlier, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had warned that new cases may come up in the future as New Zealanders return home, and some others were allowed in under special conditions.
On Wednesday, Ardern has described the emergence of the two COVID-19 cases “an unacceptable failure of the system”, while Bloomfield said that it was “a slip up in the process”.
The total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand was 1,159, while the death toll stood at 22.
A total of 7,707 tests for COVID-19 were conducted nationally in New Zealand on Friday, bringing the total completed to date to 335,167.
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