The Southern District Health Board continues to report the highest number of cases of COVID-19 in the country, with 132 confirmed and probable cases as of this morning.

In Southland there are 20 confirmed cases in Invercargill, seven in the Southland district and one in the Gore district.

The Queenstown Lakes District has the highest number of cases in the SDHB catchment, with 53 confirmed as of this morning. The Central Otago District has 10 cases and the Clutha District three cases.

District Health Boards report all new cases to the Ministry of Health by 8am each day. The Ministry of Health announces national case numbers at 1pm daily, based on totals as of 8am.

While there can be a lag between confirmation of cases and public notification of those cases, this lag does not create any public health risk. Anyone who is tested for COVID-19 goes into immediate self-isolation. Contact tracing starts as soon as test results are received and close contacts are informed and isolated immediately.

The latest World Health Organisation figures show 896,450 cases confirmed globally, which is an increase of 72,839 in the previous 24 hours. There have been 45,526 deaths to date – 4924 of those in the previous 24 hours.