New Zealand, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield. [Source: Newstalkzb]

There are 48 new confirmed and 10 probable Covid-19 coronavirus cases in New Zealand, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says.

This brings the total number of cases to 647 since the start of the pandemic.

Bloomfield said while there had been a drop in the number, he didn’t think that it reflected a drop in the number of cases. The expectation was still that the number of cases would continue to rise.

Seventy-four people with coronavirus have since recovered, he said.

Fourteen people are in hospital – two people are in a stable condition in intensive care units.