Coronavirus: Nine new COVID-19 cases, one death

New Zealand's COVID-19 death toll is now 12, with one more reported at Sunday's daily update.

After a day without the usual coronavirus briefing, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield were back to update the country with the latest figures. 

There were nine new cases, made up of four confirmed and five probable cases. The total number of COVID-19 cases since the virus reached our shores is now 1431.

Five of the new cases were recorded in the Waitemata District Health Board area in Auckland. There were three in Canterbury and one in Waikato.

There were 45  new recoveries reported, for a total of 912.

The new death happened in Invercargill. The man was linked to the Bluff wedding cluster, and it's believed to be the first COVID-19 death in New Zealand that didn't take place in a hospital.

Eighteen people are in hospital, three in ICU in Dunedin, Middlemore and North Shore. Two of them are critical.

More than 420 samples were taken randomly in Auckland on Saturday. Three-quarters have been processed so far, with none testing positive.

Of those infected, 131 of them are healthcare workers, 43 of which have recovered. Half of them were infected at work, mostly by each other - only a small number caught the disease off patients. 

Worldwide, the virus has killed more than 160,000 and infected a confirmed 2.3 million - though the true figure is likely to be much higher.

Cabinet will meet at 10:30am on Monday to decide whether to extend the pandemic alert level 4 lockdown, which has been in place for over three weeks. The decision will be revealed at 4pm, Ardern said.

Dr Bloomfield said it would largely depend on being confident there wasn't untraced community transmission of the disease.