New Zealand records 11 new cases of Covid-19 in Delta outbreak

New Zealand’s Delta outbreak has grown again, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announcing a further 11 cases.

New Zealand’s Delta outbreak has grown again, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announcing a further 11 cases. Picture: Mark Mitchell/Pool/Getty Images

A Covid-19 outbreak in New Zealand linked to NSW has grown to 21 cases, signalling that level 4 lockdown is exactly where the nation needs to be, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said.

In an update, director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, announced a further 11 cases of community transmission had been recorded since 1pm local time yesterday.

Of the cases, two have been hospitalised – one because of worsening symptoms and the other symptomatic but with underlying health conditions, Dr Bloomfield said. Both are in a stable condition.

A visibly unimpressed Ms Ardern revealed yesterday that the highly infectious Delta variant had come from NSW, blaming Sydney’s “light and long” lockdown for the spread of Covid-19 across the Tasman.

“I can now report, from the whole genome sequence analysis, that our current positive cases are a close match to a recent returnee from Sydney, who arrived on a managed red zone flight on August 7, had a day one test on the 8th, returning a positive test result on the 9th,” she told reporters this morning.

“Our cases are most likely to have come from the traveller. This is a significant development.”

RELATED: Follow our live NSW coronavirus coverage

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an outbreak in her nation has grown to 21 cases. Picture: Mark Mitchell/AFP/POOL

The development “should not be underestimated”, Ms Ardern said, and means authorities can be “fairly certain” how the virus entered New Zealand and that there are only one or two missing links.

“This could have been a much, much more difficult situation,” the PM added.

“Today we believe we have uncovered the piece of the puzzle we were looking for, and that means our ability to circle the virus, lock it down and stamp it out generally has greatly improved.”

Investigations are now underway to determine how the virus spread from someone inside the hotel quarantine system, with both Ms Ardern and Dr Bloomfield warning that they “would expect the number of cases to continue to grow”.

RELATED: Annastacia’s stern message to NSW

Authorities are now “fairly certain” about how the virus entered New Zealand. Picture: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

Based on the number of exposure sites and mobility of the cases in the days before New Zealand entered lockdown, Ms Ardern said it was clear that “Level 4 is where New Zealand needs to be at the moment”.

The strict, nationwide lockdown was pegged to originally end tomorrow, with the PM hinting there is a chance – and there always has been – that it could be extended.

Questioned yesterday over her “message to people who questioned the need” for such harsh measures, Ms Ardern bluntly pointed to “Australia”.

“We’ve seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours,” she said.

“We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance.”