Two teenagers who were granted compassionate exemption from travel related isolation to attend a Hamilton funeral have been located after breaking the rules.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield thanked police, the community and iwi for finding the pair late last week after they failed to return to managed isolation following the funeral.
"Regarding the two individuals, I am aware that this happened toward the end of the last week.
"Both of them were tracked, or traced, one is back in managed isolation, and one is in an agreed community isolation agreement.
"I want to thank many people who were involved, and the work that was done with police, and the local community and iwi to sort that out, and reduce the risk to the wider community," Dr Bloomfield said.
The news comes as two new Covid-19 cases were recorded in New Zealand today. They were two women, one in her 30s and one in her 40s who arrived from the UK earlier this month.
Both women arrived in New Zealand together on June 7 and stayed in managed isolation in a hotel in Auckland.
The two women from the same family recently arrived in the country from the UK. (Source: Other)
"A new case is something we hoped we wouldn't have but it is something we planned for," Dr Bloomfield said.
They were permitted on compassionate grounds to travel to Wellington in a private vehicle on June 13.
1 NEWS understands the cases were given a special exemption to attend a funeral.
"They had no contact with anyone else. They did not use any public facilities and were with a single family member," Dr Bloomfield said.
Dr Bloomfield said potential contacts with the two women were people on the same Air New Zealand flight from Brisbane and those in the same isolation facility in Auckland.
Prior to testing one was experiencing mild symptoms, he said.
Both women were tested in Wellington.
Dr Bloomfield says he is adding a rule that any person leaving an isolation facility needs to have returned a negative Covid-19 test.
He said the only person at risk from the pair was the family member who was in close contact with them.
The two new cases breaks a 24-day streak without any new cases, and a seven-day streak without any active cases in the country.
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