New Zealand confirmed on Tuesday two new coronavirus cases in women who recently arrived from Britain, ending a 24-day streak of no new infections.
New Zealand closed its borders to almost all international arrivals in March in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus.
Overseas arrivals are required to be isolated at a government-sanctioned facility for 14 days. However, the women, one in her 30s and the other in her 40s, were allowed to leave their isolation site in Auckland early to visit a dying parent in the capital, Wellington.
"A new case is something we hoped we wouldn't get but is also something we have expected and planned for," said New Zealand's director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield.
New Zealand has recorded 1,506 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, and 22 deaths.
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