Covid 19 coronavirus update: One new case today - a man in his 50s

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / File

There is one new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation in New Zealand.

Today's case is a man in his 50s who arrived in the country on July 12 from Central Africa via Tanzania, Doha and Brisbane.

He is now in the quarantine facility in Auckland after being transferred yesterday.

The number of active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand is 22.

It has been 78 days since the last case of community transmission in New Zealand.

None of the cases require hospital-level care.

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand is now 1200.

Yesterday 2403 tests were completed, bringing the the total number of tests completed in New Zealand to 441,123.

The Ministry of Health is giving an update on the number of cases.

Yesterday there was also one new case - a man in his 30s who arrived in New Zealand on July 10 from Pakistan via Dubai.

He is in a quarantine facility in Auckland.

Earlier this week the Ministry of Health said the clinical criteria for recovery from Covid-19 in New Zealand have now changed following a review, which includes ensuring alignment with its Australian counterparts.

"The strict criteria applied before an individual with Covid-19 is regarded as recovered and able to be released from quarantine or isolation are that it must be at least 10 days since the onset of symptoms or positive test if the person was asymptomatic, and at least 48 hours without symptoms," it said in a statement.

"The 48 hours will now increase to 72 hours as an extra precaution."

It said a review confirmed the virus could persist in cases of people who had recovered but were no longer infectious.

This week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the next phase in the war against Covid-19 with a "Stamp it out" plan for coming months.

As virus numbers continue to rise rapidly around the globe, Ardern announced the need to prepare for the eventuality of cases slipping through the border and leading to community transmission in coming months.

Measures included putting regions into different levels of lockdown and taking precautionary steps at the early stages of any outbreak rather than run the risk of doing too little too late.