Covid-19 coronavirus: Northland 11 days without a new case, 75% recovered

Three-quarters of Northland's positive Covid-19 cases have recovered as the region reached its 11th day of no new cases.

Of Northland's 28 positive cases (26 confirmed and two probable), up to 9am yesterday, 21 have recovered with the remaining seven self-isolating in the community. Eight identified as Māori, 18 as European, and two were classed as 'other'.

And 4165 tests had been carried out in Northland with 3120 being conducted across the region's seven community-based testing centres.

Head to the bottom of the article for more information on the centres.

Nationally, New Zealand's Covid-19 case tally rose by three - two confirmed cases and one probable. All were connected to known cases.

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

Announced by Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield at Parliament yesterday, the new cases took the national tally to 1472 - which included 1214 recovered cases.

Nationally, 2146 tests were completed on Monday, taking the overall total of tests conducted to 126,066. Nine people were in hospital, including one in intensive care in Middlemore.

With the nation entering alert level 3 yesterday, Bloomfield urged people to maintain physical distancing at recently opened takeaway businesses.

He also implored the public not confuse the terms 'elimination' and 'eradication', stating that elimination referred not to one point in time, but to an instance where New Zealand had a small number of cases, knew where they were coming from, and had solid contact tracing and testing capability.

With regard to mobile testing in areas such as Northland, Bloomfield said it had gone well and would continue where appropriate.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose press conference directly followed Bloomfield's yesterday, reinforced the Director General of Health's sentiment around vigilance during alert level 3.

"We will have to keep stamping Covid out until there is a vaccine," she said.

Ardern said about 75 per cent of the economy was operating at level 3, with about one million New Zealanders at work. Road and rail projects were back up and running, but many workers had been displaced.

Speaking alongside Ardern, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced a raft of Government-led employment service initiatives, to be delivered through the Ministry of Social Development.

Named 'Keep New Zealand Working', Sepuloni said an online platform was now live, connecting jobseekers to employers and provided training courses for those wanting to upskill, and there would also be 35 more employment centres around the country.

Nevertheless, Sepuloni said unemployment would rise before it improved.

"We're already seeing dramatic increases in unemployment in countries around the world like Australia and the UK, and New Zealand has not escaped this reality."