This archive report was first published on 19 June 2020.
On June 18, 2020, New Zealand confirmed its third COVID-19 case, barely days after declaring local transmission of the virus eradicated.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called in the military to oversee the facilities and manage border defences in response to the new development.
The new case involves a man in his 60s who flew in from Lahore, Pakistan, via Doha and Melbourne on June 11, 2020, and is currently in quarantine.
Authorities are working to trace those who may have come into contact with the man and two women who flew from Britain, who had also tested positive after being permitted to leave their quarantine early to see an ill relative.
The government suspended all exemptions to quarantine rules and said no one was to leave the isolated hotels unless they have been tested in response to the case of the two women.
According to the Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield, the case of the two women 'will have upset people … I am certainly upset by it.'
As of June 19, 2020, New Zealand has reported a total of 1,504 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 22 deaths.
