New Zealand has 11 new cases of coronavirus, Ministry of Health director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield has confirmed.

Of the 11, five were in Auckland, two in Waikato, two in Wellington and one in Canterbury and Hawke's Bay. The new cases were associated with overseas travel, rather than community spread.

None of the new cases were in hospital - all were at home self-isolating, Bloomfield said.

The new cases bring the country's total to 39.

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With the new cases, the ministry website would have details of relevant flights the patients travelled on.

Healthline would be provided with the seat numbers of the recent flights and would soon be able to advise anyone on these flights whether they are considered a close contact, he said.

Close contacts would be required to undertake 14 days of self-isolation, and would be monitored for symptoms.

Meanwhile, the ministry was planning to gather data on how many people had made a full recovery from the virus, and had set up a dedicated email for those in self isolation and for the public to report breaches of self-isolation and those flouting mass gathering requirements.

"We ask people to use this channel judicially," Bloomfield said.

1000 TESTS

About 1000 tests were processed on Thursday and the number of new cases was in line with what was seen in the past few days, Bloomfield said.

"Where public health staff have fully investigated the 11 cases there is again a clear link to overseas travel. In several other cases, the test results were only confirmed this morning and these are still being followed up fully."

Public health staff interviewed every case in detail to quickly trace movements and identify all close contacts and isolate them, he said.

The ministry was looking out for signs of community spread very carefully, he said.

Tests were not being rationed, he said, with 1000 done on Thursday. Up to 1500 tests a day can be done - and more if needed.

Bloomfield said he felt health authorities' testing was wide enough.

Darren Bevan/Stuff Pak'n Save Albany on Wednesday as people queued for their shopping.

RECOVERY

There had been some interest in how many people have fully recovered from COVID-19 and the ministry was looking at how to collect and report that information in future, he said.

"Recovery from COVID-19 is a lot like recovering from a flu. You should rest, recuperate, keep up your fluids and get lots of sleep."

Even when recovered, individuals would need to remain in strict isolation until cleared by their health provider, he said.

Many of the earlier patients had now got better.

One of the cases announced on Thursday, a Spanish man in his 60s, was in Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown and his condition was stable. His wife was being tested and was self-isolating. Contact tracing had commenced.

The Ministry also confirmed further detail about the two Dunedin cases - one a student at Logan High School who had coronavirus.

​"The test results give us important information indicating the two Dunedin cases were linked to overseas travel, rather than a possible community link."

The 150 close contacts of the Dunedin student remained in self-isolation for a 14-day period despite all testing negative for the virus.

Once cleaned and approved by local public health staff, the school was expected to reopen on Tuesday.

SELF-ISOLATION

It was important for those in self-isolation to remember that it did not mean social isolation, Bloomfield said.

"It's really important for mental wellbeing to stay connected to people. There are lots of ways to reach out to people by phone, social media, or online contact.Talking to people and checking in on others keeps us all connected and that is more important than ever."

A multi-agency dedicated email has been set up for those in self isolation to give assistance and advice where required - nhccselfisolation@health.govt.nz

Members of the public would also be able to access information from Health, Immigration and police, where required.

'LET'S SHOP NORMAL AND BE NICE TO EACH OTHER'

Foodstuffs South Island chief executive Steve Anderson said New Zealanders should continue to shop normally - a robust supply chain was in place.

"We are experiencing huge pressure - we don't have a supply issue, we have a demand issue", he said.

Supermarkets were slightly above a Christmas week in terms of comparable shopping - demand had arrived but was unplanned for.

Anderson said his team were tired and he asked people to be kind: "Let's shop normal and let's be nice to each other".

He characterised people's shopping not as panic buying but rather preparation, with people getting ready for self-isolation.

Anderson urged people to shop normally and if so, there would be no issues.

L ARGE GATHERINGS AND PHYSICAL DISTANCING

To slow the spread of coronavirus, as of Thursday, gatherings of 500 people or more in close proximity outdoors, or 100 people or more indoors, had been cancelled.

This applied to both public events such as concerts and private events such as weddings.

Organisers of gatherings of any size needed to assess the risk they pose to attendees and the community. Work, school, and public transport were considered essential gatherings and did not need to be cancelled or closed, Bloomfield said.

EARLIER CASES

On Thursday, eight new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed.

Apart from the one person hospitalised for the virus, and the remaining seven were recovering in self-isolation.

Two of the cases announced on Thursday were in Taranaki, one in Queenstown, one in Dunedin, one in Rotorua, two in Auckland, and one in Northland.

These new cases related to overseas travel, with people returning from Egypt, France, Spain the United States and England.

Two of the new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Taranaki were a male and female both in their 40s who recently visited Egypt. Neither attended the Womad festival on the weekend of March 14.

The Rotorua case was later confirmed by Toi Te Ora, the public health unit for both Bay of Plenty and the Lakes District, to be a French national who was tested prior to arriving in the town.

The man had arrived in New Zealand on March 13, and was now in self-isolation.

The Dunedin woman, in her 30s, had recently travelled to Australia and the United Kingdom, via Los Angeles. She had mild symptoms and had been self-isolating since returning to New Zealand this week.