Covid 19 coronavirus: About 660 police officers and staff in isolation

There are 89 new cases of coronavirus in New Zealand, Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says. It brings the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 1039.

By RNZ

Hundreds of New Zealand's police - about 5 percent of the organisation - are in self isolation.

The Police Association has reported that there are 664 sworn and non-sworn staff off work. Of that number 381 are front line staff and 283 are non-sworn.

Association president Chris Cahill said they had managed to move a lot of staff around, so overall it had not affected services to the public.

He said many of those in isolation were due to complete it shortly, and with testing ramping up it was becoming much clearer who may or may not have been exposed to the Covid-19 coronavirus.

There are still only two known confirmed cases in the police force.

Cahill said the distancing regime and personal protection equipment (PPE) police had been supplied with was keeping them safe.

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- RNZ