A person with underlying health conditions is in intensive care and on a ventilator in Nelson Hospital. File photo.

A man in his 70s is in a critical condition with coronavirus in Nelson Hospital.

At a press conference on Friday, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the man was in intensive care and on a ventilator. He had underlying health conditions and had been in hospital for a number of days before his condition worsened.

The man is the first person with the virus in New Zealand to need intensive care support.

Bloomfield announced on Friday there were 85 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours - 76 confirmed and nine probable. This takes the total count to 368.

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The Nelson patient is one of eight people with the virus who are currently in hospital, six are in a stable condition, including one in Blenheim's Wairau Hospital. Two are in ICU, one in Nelson and one in Wellington.

There are eight confirmed cases of coronavirus in Nelson and nine confirmed cases, plus one probable case in Marlborough. No new cases were confirmed in the top of the south on Friday.

Nelson Marlborough Health said all cases in the region were travel related, the person had either travelled themselves or had close contact with a person who had travelled.

Bloomfield said on Thursday that two people with coronavirus were in Nelson Hospital, but Nelson Marlborough Health since clarified one person was in Wairau Hospital and one was in Nelson Hospital.

A Nelson Marlborough Health spokeswoman said both patients, in Wairau and Nelson hospitals had been admitted in the last 48 hours and had previously been unwell at home before they were hospitalised.

Of the eight cases in Nelson, the first case, announced last Saturday, was a woman in her 20s who had undertaken international travel before returning to Nelson on March 16.

The second case was a man in his 20s who had travelled overseas and his flight details had not been released. A man and woman in their 70s were the third and fourth confirmed cases on Monday, along with a woman in her 50s who was linked to a confirmed case.

On Tuesday, a woman in her 80s was confirmed to have the virus and further details about her case had not been supplied.

Details about the seventh and eighth confirmed cases in Nelson were not available on Friday afternoon.

The health board said contact tracing was being undertaken by the Nelson Marlborough Public Health Service and the national close contact tracing service. Anyone who had interacted with a confirmed case would be contacted by health officials.

Bloomfield said of the 85 new cases announced on Friday, most were still related to overseas travel. There are no new clusters being investigated other than the ones from Thursday.

He said 37 people had recovered from coronavirus. Recovered patients are people who have got over their symptoms and been symptom free for 14 days.

Nelson Marlborough Health revealed on Tuesday there were seven intensive care units (ICU) at Nelson Hospital, as well as four negative pressure rooms and 15 ventilators.

There are 244 hospital beds available in the Nelson Marlborough region, and hospitals had the capacity to re-configure wards and beds as required as part of its pandemic plan.