There are four further deaths linked to Covid-19 and Director General Health Ashley Bloomfield says it is a "sobering reminder" of what's at stake in the fight against the pandemic.
Fashion-hungry New Zealanders are still able to shop till they drop for foreign non-essential clothing ... despite the countrywide lockdown ruling local shopping out of the question.
Retail New Zealand has called for "one rule for all" to be established as international clothing websites like The Iconic continue to shipto - and target - Kiwi consumers.
Chief executive Greg Harford said retailers in New Zealand were pretty upset because the rules don't make a lot of sense.
"If it's true that Covid-19 can be spread through online shopping, than those rules should apply to overseas companies as well."
He told the Herald offshore companies were "actively marketing" to New Zealanders which was unfair to their Kiwi counterparts.
"There's a legitimate argument to be had that online shopping isn't a big risk in itself and if that's the case then there's no reason for domestic businesses not to be selling online to New Zealand customers as well."
Harford said they'd been saying to the Government for a long time that it would be sensible to allow online shopping in New Zealand to take place and there were a lot of small businesses that could operate safely within a family bubble.
Advertisements seen by the Herald show foreign brands targeting locked-down Kiwis with "Dressed to Chill" or free-shipping sales with one cheap online women's brand even using a yellow sale banner with black stripes - which mildly resembles the Government's Covid-19 adverts.
An Auckland jewellery retailer said the Government should implement a shipping rule across the retail sector.
Cathy Pope, who owns Cathy Pope Jewellery, said it was unfair Australian websites were able to ship items to New Zealanders when local companies could not.
"If you get back to the core fundamental issue, it's that we're not supposed to be clogging up the courier vans that couriers use to deliver essential services, so if that's the reason that we're not allowed to trade it makes no sense that that's overridden for international parcels."
The Iconic was contacted to comment on why they were still delivering within New Zealand, however they declined comment.
Finance minister Grant Robertson said he had seen few reports that companies from other countries were using the lockdown to take market share off New Zealand companies.
Robertson believed the steps taken by the Government to limit the spread of Covid-19 were approprate "even if there's been some exploitation of the situation by some offshore online retailers".
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment was contacted to comment on the matter but did not respond to the Herald's request.
