New Zealand

It brings the total of confirmed cases in New Zealand to 20.

Speaking at the latest media conference, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said there are four new cases in Auckland, one in Christchurch, two in Waikato and one in Invercargill.

Some of the new cases have come from Europe, Australia and the USA.

He said details for each of these cases, including flight information, will be revealed on the Ministry of Health website "in the near future".

Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed that fans will not be allowed into grounds to watch the three-match series, which starts on Friday at the SCG.

Ticket-holders will be given a full refund with no decision yet made over Australia's upcoming three-match Twenty20 international tour of New Zealand.

"Cricket Australia will continue to monitor the coronavirus situation at home and overseas before making a decision on Australian men's international matches beyond the Australian leg of the ODI tournament," said a statement.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told Morning Report he got a report of a third positive test yesterday evening.

"We're getting all the information together and we'll update everybody at the same time at the update this afternoon," Bloomfield said.

He said the positive Covid-19 result was not of the partner of the Auckland woman who tested positive on Tuesday.

"The swab for the partner of the second case is being processed today, so the positive result we received last night is a different case."

The World Health Organisation said on its website that a second New Zealand case had been confirmed.

The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the citizen is a woman in her 30s who had recently returned from a trip to Italy.

The positive test result was formally reported to the ministry at about 6pm yesterday. At that point, health authorities began notifying the woman and her family and started the process of contact tracing.

The woman returned on an Air New Zealand flight NZ0283, from Singapore to Auckland on 25 February.

The Ministry of Health said the tests were mainly precautionary and not necessarily suspected cases of coronavirus.

A total of 122 tests have been done across three laboratories In Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

All have returned negative results.

Health officials have urged people to get winter flu vaccines this year. The Ministry of Health said the flu shot would not stop people getting Covid-19, but it would help prevent them getting seriously ill.

Upon arriving in Auckland from Fiji, PM Marape is scheduled to meet his New Zealand  counterpart, the Rt Hon. Jacinda Ardern, at the Government House.

There, PM Marape and his counterpart will hold a one-on-one prime ministerial discussion, followed by bilateral discussion with the PNG-NZ delegations.

Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said the so-called "winter surge" was now "the new normal" in many hospitals.

"It's not unusual for our medical wards to be over 100 percent occupancy even outside the winter surge.

"So if we get flu at the same time as Covid-19, that seems like too many things."

Health workers had borne the brunt of the Covid-19 outbreak in China and their experience showed clear protocols and protective equipment were needed now, before the virus arrived, she said.

Slater, 47, holds the record for being both the youngest and oldest World Championin the men's ranks.

He won his first world title in 1992 at the age of 20 and his last was in 2011.

The Piha Pro will be the first time Slater has competed in New Zealand since 1993.

The Piha Pro is one stop on the newly-announced WSL Challenger Series which will see more than 100 surfers chasing qualifying for the elite Championship Tour in 2021.

Up to five million dollars' worth of drugs was seized in a major operation targeting the importation of methamphetamine and other drugs into New Zealand.

A New Zealand man has allegedly been operating overseas since 2016, sending drugs to associates back here via multiple countries and using a variety of ways to conceal the drugs.

He was arrested at the border in Italy on February 2.

Police have also arrested six of his alleged associates living in New Zealand after search warrants were carried out throughout the wider Auckland region last week.

PNG High Commissioner to New Zealand, Francis Agwi, also said he was informed by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs that no one at the isolation facility in Whangaparoa, including the 17 PNG students who were evacuated out of Wuhan by the New Zealand government, has shown any signs of infection, nor been tested positive for Novel Coronavirus.

The department also said Kundu Beijing is very much aware of the dire situation that other students are in, as prices of food, water, medical fees, electricity and masks have dramatically increased since the virus outbreak.