Two new people with confirmed COVID-19 have been identified in South Taranaki today, taking the total to seven confirmed cases and one probable for the region.
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The two cases are considered to be related and linked to overseas travel, says Taranaki's medical officer of health, Dr Jonathan Jarman.
""A 17 year old female and a 51 year old male are the latest people to test positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
The 17 year old has recently returned from overseas travel and the 51 year old is a close contact who we believe contracted the virus from the 17 year old. Both people are in self isolation."
Dr Jarman says it is vital everyone does their bit to help break the chain of transmission.
These are unprecedented times for New Zealand and even though we don't have a pandemic in our country, there are now sporadic cases in many parts of New Zealand, including North and South Taranaki.
We need to get on top of this by all doing our bit and breaking the chain of transmission and slowing the spread of COVID-19. This is a really important time for everyone in Taranaki and the nation as a whole to ensure we're abiding with the Government guidelines and staying home to keep ourselves and whānau safe."
Dr Jarman says so far all cases in Taranaki are related to overseas travel. He expects the numbers to continue increasing for the next week or so.
"We expect the number of cases to increase for at least the next ten days. All the cases so far in Taranaki have been travel related or belong to families of people who have recently returned from overseas."
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website