Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the 15 new cases are made up of six confirmed cases and nine probable cases. Twelve people are in hospital, three are in ICU and two are in a critical condition.
A low cost carrier has vowed to eliminate the dreaded middle seat from flights, post pandemic.
The covid-19 pandemic has precipitated the loss of many everyday occurrences, some for the worse, others for the better. If European budget airline easyJet returns to the skies, they say the middle will bethe first thing to go.
On the 24 March the airline grounded its fleet for the foreseeable future.
However in contingency planning the airline has explained that eliminating the middle seat from its planes might encourage people back onto flights.
"I think that is something that the customers would like to see," explained easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren.
Easyjet is planning a cautious return to the skies, the removal of the middle seat might help. Photo / Supplied
However Lundgren explained this measure was more to do with passengers' expectations for continued social distancing rather than their dislike for the middle seat (AKA the "worst seat").
While the airline still has more consultation to do with passengers and authorities, leaving the middle seat empty seemed an obvious decision for the difficult "start-up period".
"I'm talking about this as an initial phase. Nobody knows for how long that phase will be," said Lundgren.
"I think it's important that customers understand that we are taking this very seriously, and first and foremost, our concern is about the customers' well-being and our people's well-being."
While the fleet is grounded, the decision fly on two-thirds capacity is also in part due to the expected low uptake of air travel after the pandemic.
However, after the halt to service in mid March in some cases pre-bookings for winter routes are busier than ever. This is due to customers who were offered rebookings on tickets disrupted by the coronavirus.
CEO of competing low-cost carrier Ryanair, Michael O'Leary dismissed the plan to leave the middle-seat unsold as "hopelessly ineffective". Saying that the measure did little to protect passengers of air staff while eating into revenue.
Grounded: Airline easyJet has cash reserves to outlast 9 months suspension. Photo / Frederick Tubiermont, Unsplash
There is no planned date to return to flying for either of these carriers. However, the BBC estimated that easyJet had cash reserves of £3.3 ($6.9bn) or enough liquidity to last nine months.
In the USA, where domestic carriers are still operating Delta Air announced it would be blocking middle seats on flights. This is possible due to low demand. Air travel in the states has dropped to just 146,000 passengers a day down from 2 million, according to the TSA, and the CDC has told Americans to avoid all unessential air travel.
