There are 58 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases in New Zealand, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says.
Matamata has just one new confirmed case of Covid-19 in the small Waikato town, a result which has sent a slight wave of relief over Mayor Ash Tanner.
Tanner this morning had an update from health officials regarding the state of Matamata, currently coming to grips with its cluster ofcases announced yesterday.
The cases have born from St Patrick's Day celebrations at the Redoubt Bar on March 17.
Initially just a few cases grew to 15 and yesterday 23.
"With the testing going only, there's only one new case overnight for Matamata which the DHB is pretty happy with that and that is good news.
"Hopefully that trend will continue with the testing.
"It's still encouraging signs because obviously if you have a spike of 15, but then you've only got one overnight then that's pretty good in my mind. Just again, it's just clasping on to the positive signs."
He said since the cluster, health officials had invested more to help trace the cases.
He said as for freedom campers, officials in Thames Valley which includes - Thames-Coromandel, Hauraki and Matamata-Piako district councils - had only noticed "a handful" of them around.
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They were being directed to appropriate places to stay while the lockdown is in place.
Tanner said as of 3pm yesterday, a new testing station was set up at the town's civic centre.
"I guess because of the cluster they thought it would be better to have a station set up there.
"They were sending the ones from Matamata to Te Aroha to get tested so it would be easier to get tested locally."
Tanner said from what he understood, those who were at the St Patrick's Day celebrations at the Redoubt Bar on March 17 were asked to ring Healthline and talk them through any symptoms, so they could be advised around getting a test done.
He said residents were obviously anxious given the news of the increase in cases but everyone appeared to be following Government advice - staying inside.
He and his wife had been out walking and noticing the streets a lot emptier and those that were out walking were adhering to the 2m rule.
Matamata-Piako councillor Kevin Tappin, who lives in Matamata, said he and his wife had been in self-isolation after being tested nearly two weeks ago.
Their tests came back negative and discovered they simply had a flu which was a big relief.
He hoped residents would do their bit to help contain the virus and stay inside.
