A Canterbury preschooler is the latest person to be diagnosed with Covid-19.
The boy, under the age of four, is linked to the Rosewood rest home cluster in Christchurch, making him the 56th case from that cluster overall, the Ministry of Health announced today.
He's now the fifth person in that age group to be confirmed diagnosed with the disease, with another 16 as probable cases.
The Ministry of Health wouldn't release further details about the case due to privacy reasons.
To date there have been 36 confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the 0-9 age group, the Ministry of Health confirmed to 1 NEWS today.
Thirty-four of them have recovered while two are still active.
The Ministry would not comment on whether children in New Zealand who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 presented with different symptoms to adults.
It comes as children across Europe are experiencing a condition similar to Kawasaki disease, which is more common in Asia.
With a rise in cases coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic, health officials are urgently investigating whether they are linked.
"It is entirely plausible this is caused by this virus, at least in some cases," said England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty.
The disease triggers a reaction similar to toxic shock syndrome in which patients have flu-like symptoms, a fever, rashes and difficulty breathing.
There have been cases in Spain, larger numbers in Italy and now the United States too.
Late last month New Zealand's Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said it was something officials are taking note of.
"A small number of children with Kawasaki disease and some of these have been Covid-positive and some haven't," he said.
"These are the sorts of things we are looking at on a daily basis just to see if this is something we need to advise out clinicians about. or look for."
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