New Zealand now has 36 new confirmed cases of coronavirus.

The Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield is briefing reporters on New Zealand’s response to the pandemic.

This takes the total number of cases in this country to 102.

Over half of them are directly linked to overseas travel – people who have returned to New Zealand recently.

Most of the remainder are close contacts of previously concerned case or associated with events where there were confirmed cases.

There still remain two where it’s not clear where the infection came from.

The Prime Minister will update the alert level later today.

Contact tracing for all cases is ongoing.

Bloomfield said he understood people in the areas where those two people lived would be concerned but asked they continue good hygiene practices and maintain social distancing while investigations continued.

Any passengers who disembarked from the Celebrity Solstice and the Ruby Princess in New Zealand should also be self-isolating.

The two cruise ships recently visited New Zealand and have now had confirmed cases of Covid-19 on board.