Covid 19 coronavirus: No active cases left in Lakes, just one in Bay of Plenty

As of today, there are no active Covid-19 cases in the Lakes District Health Board area and only one in the Bay of Plenty.

The Lakes district, which includes Rotorua and Taupō, has not had a new case since April 18 and of the 16 cases in the area up to that point, all have recovered.

The Bay of Plenty district, which includes the Western Bay of Plenty and the eastern Bay of Plenty, has just one active case with 46 of 47 recovered. There has not been a new case in the Bay of Plenty area since April 21.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced, for the second consecutive day, there are no new cases to report in New Zealand.

The total number of cases has decreased by one to 1486 after a probable case was reclassed.

Having zero new cases for a second day was "very encouraging" and all New Zealanders should feel pleased with their efforts, Bloomfield said.

"I certainly do."

The worst thing we could do is celebrate the success "before the fulltime whistle blows" jeopardising the gains we'd made.

"Stay the course, stay in your bubble and don't squander what we have achieved by giving this virus a chance that it will all too readily accept."

But because of the long tail of the virus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged Kiwis to double-down.

Achieving zero cases two days in a row was testament to New Zealanders' efforts that "we could be undeniably proud of", she said.

"Don't do anything that snatches our potential victory at this point."

There are 179 people in quarantine, he said.

Just over 1300 people have recovered - 88 per cent of the total number of Covid-19 cases.

Four people are in hospital.

Ardern also spoke about a possible transtasman bubble, having sat in on the Australian national Cabinet meeting today.

Both countries stand to benefit from allowing travel between the two countries, Ardern said, for economic relations and for those whose families and friendship stretched across the Tasman.

A statement will be issued at the end of the national Cabinet meeting about what was discussed. Ardern said Australia has now had an uptake in numbers showed that it "doesn't take much for the situation to change".

There were a lot of similarities between Australia and New Zealand and so both were enthusiastic about a transtasman bubble, she said.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website