Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says there is a very low chance of Covid-19 in the community, even though a person released early from managed isolation is no longer in contact.

There is one new official case today and one unofficial case, but both people are contained in managed isolation facilities and have been or will be transferred to quarantine facilities in Auckland and Rotorua.

All 12 of the active cases are in isolation, and despite the highest number of tests yesterday, there remains no evidence of domestic transmission.

One of the new cases is a woman in her 60s who flew into the country from India on June 18 on the Air India repatriation flight AI1316.

She was staying at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland but has now been transferred to the Jet Park quarantine facility.

Bloomfield also said there is a positive case in Rotorua following the city's Ibis Hotel being put into lockdown.

This case is yet to be added to the official tally as the result wasn't known before the 9am cut-off this morning.

Bloomfield said he was confident the Rotorua facility was being safely managed to prevent the spread of the virus, and the person will be transferred to an appropriate quarantine facility in Rotorua.

More than 20,000 people have been through managed isolation in New Zealand, Bloomfield said.

Since June 16, when two sisters who flew in from Britain returned positive tests after being allowed to drive to Wellington on compassionate grounds, there has been more than 45,000 tests done across the country.

• 51 of 55 people who left isolation early were not tested
• 'Everyone's feeling very anxious': Rotorua quarantine hotel in lockdown

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health finally revealed how many of the 55 people who left managed isolation early on compassionate leave were not tested for Covid.

The answer was 51.

Keriana Brooking, deputy director-general health system improvement and innovation, said today that 16 people out of the group of 55 who left managed isolation were allowed to leave to isolate with family who were dying.

Four were granted day leave to visit a dying family member and they returned to isolation each day. One person was granted leave because they were terminally ill.

People who visited family members who were dying had to wear PPE while visiting, were not allowed to leave their vehicles and were required to undergo a Covid-19 test at a community testing station.

Thirty-nine of the group of 55 have been tested and returned negative results. Eleven will not be tested because of health reasons or because they're children. Three are awaiting results and one person who has had a test has not returned contact from the Ministry.

Brooking confirmed that person had been referred to enforcement services.

Bloomfield said that person posed a low risk because the ministry would have been alerted if they had returned a positive test result.

The only people released from isolation on compassionate grounds who have since tested positive were the two sisters who flew back from the UK.

Of the 190 guests at the Novotel Ellerslie from June 6-13, where the sisters initially stayed, five guests have still not responded to health authorities.

They are less risky than the group of 55, but have been referred to the ministry's enforcement services.

"We can call on police if necessary," Bloomfield said.

"We're doing everything we can to reassure New Zealanders these people do not pose a risk."

Brooking said many of the compassionate leave applications were approved on the conditions that existed before June 9, when leave was no longer meant to be granted without a negative test or at least a week spent in managed isolation.

She couldn't say how many applications were approved when they shouldn't have been.

"A large number of the applications that were approved during June 9 to June 16 related to previous applications.

"We had a large number that were approved that weren't related to compassionate grounds and a large number were people who completed seven days and returned a negative test."

Bloomfield said the wide testing being done across New Zealand should reassure people there is no community outbreak of Covid-19 undetected.

"Our job is to make sure we're preventing the virus coming into New Zealand and to have really good mechanisms to detect the virus if it is out there.

"We're not detecting any covid outside our isolation facilities.

"The last week has been a reminder for all of us that we need to remain vigilant and there is an escalating pandemic offshore."

"We are in a very fortunate position here in alert level 1 and we need to be incredibly vigilant."

All DHBs need to have ready access to testing and to keep their community testing centres open, Bloomfield said.

National MP Michael Woodhouse said this morning that the interactions between Health Minister David Clark and Bloomfield in the past week show that the relationship has broken down.

But Bloomfield rejected that when asked during the press conference.

Two new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed yesterday, and with one of the sisters from Britain recovered, the current number of active cases is 10.

Six are from India, one from Britain, two from Pakistan and one from the United States.

All are in quarantine except the sister from Britain who is in self-isolation in the community in the Hutt Valley.

Health Minister David Clark yesterday announced a new testing regime would also include such people as drivers who ferry arrivals from the airport to isolation, cleaners, immigration, customs, and biosecurity and security staff.

Air New Zealand crew would be regularly tested, Clark said, but he could not say whether air crew from non-New Zealand airlines flying from hotspots such as India or the United States would be tested.