New Zealand reports 2 new cases of Covid

Wellington, April 24 (IANS) New Zealand reported two new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.

The two new cases of Covid-19 were detected in managed isolation, while there was no new case of Covid-19 in the wider New Zealand community, said the ministry.

According to the ministry, the seven-day rolling average of new cases of Covid-19 detected at the border was one. The total number of active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand was 33 and the total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country reached 2,245, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The total number of tests processed by New Zealand laboratories to date reached 1,997,219.

Quarantine-free travel between Western Australia and New Zealand has been paused after Perth and the outer-metropolitan area of Peel in West Australia were placed in a three-day Covid-19 lockdown from Saturday.

A risk assessment was completed by New Zealand health authorities and the current risk to New Zealand had been assessed as low, said the ministry.

While quarantine-free travel to the rest of Australia will continue, New Zealanders in Australia were asked to follow local guidance and check for places of interest outside of Western Australia, said the ministry.

Trans-Tasman quarantine-free travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia was launched from April 19.