There are 23 new cases of Covid-19 at New Zealand's border and in managed isolation, Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has confirmed this afternoon.
The new cases come as Dr Bloomfield announced a border worker has also tested positive for Covid-19 - a 24-year-old who works at the Grand Millenium MIQ facility as a security guard.
The spike in cases comes after seven were reported at the border yesterday, meaning the rolling seven-day average for cases at the border has risen from three to seven per day.
Dr Bloomfield said included in the large figure is four historical cases who came to New Zealand at various times late last year and were previously under investigation but count towards today's tally. The four historical cases - from Bangladesh, Switzerland, Turkey and India - are deemed not infectious.
Of the 19 remaining cases, 16 are from India while the rest came from England, Egypt and Pakistan.
"This is obviously a high number," Dr Bloomfield said.
The 24-year-old man was a worker at Auckland’s Grand Millennium hotel.
The Director General of Health tried to put the spike in cases in perspective though, saying places like India, Brazil and the US were still reporting new cases in the tens-of-thousands daily as well as reporting deaths and working through lockdowns.
"Sometimes it's easy to forget that in New Zealand where we have no transmission of Covid-19 in our community and enjoying significant freedom of movement."
Dr Bloomfield added an additional 10 people have recovered from Covid-19, meaning New Zealand currently has 95 active cases.
New Zealand's total number of confirmed cases to-date is 2199.
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