Coronavirus: False alarm - No Covid-19 case in the Coromandel

There are no cases of Covid-19 in the Thames-Coromandel District, the council has confirmed. Photo / Getty Images

Thames-Coromandel District Council has hit back at claims there is a case of Covid-19 in its region.

The council said on its Facebook page this afternoon that there were no confirmed cases on the Coromandel to date despite an earlier report by the director general of health Ashley Bloomfield.

"The announcement by the Ministry of Health this afternoon that a positive C-19 case has been discovered on the Coromandel is FALSE," the post said.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson confirmed the mistake and said the case was in Waikato and not the Coromandel.

He was case number 55, a Waikato man in his 60s had travelled from Honolulu to Auckland on March 14 on flight HA445, arriving on March 15.

Thames Coromandel mayor Sandra Goudie said the Coromandel had been lucky so far but believed it was only a matter of time until a case was confirmed in the region.

"I'm just so impressed with how many people are so willing and prepared to help each other and do what they think is the right thing," Goudie said.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Health confirmed this afternoon that New Zealand has 14 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the country's total number of cases to 66.

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There were five confirmed cases in Auckland, one in Northland, one in Canterbury, two in New Plymouth, three in Waikato - including one in Hamilton - one in Tauranga and one in Dunedin.

In a press conference earlier today Bloomfield said there were now 67 confirmed cases, but this was later corrected by the Ministry of Health as being 66.

The ministry also made a mistake yesterday when it gave an update on the number of cases saying it had risen to 53 when it was 52.