More people have recovered from coronavirus in the last 24 hours than tested positive for the illness.

New Zealand has 54 new coronavirus cases today.

The new cases are made up of 32 confirmed cases and 22 probable cases.

It brings the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 1160.

241 people have recovered, up from 176 yesterday.

That means 65 people recovered in the past 24 hours, 11 more than the number of new and positive cases announced today.

Twelve people are still in hospital.

There is two per cent community transmission.

There have been more than 42,800 tests so far and almost 3000 yesterday.

Director-General of Health Ashely Bloomfield said the World Health Organisation is not advising that people using masks outside at all times.

Bloomfield expected the number of new cases to "continue to stay level" before a decline.

He said there are an additional five people with Covid-19 in the Marist clusters.

In fact, he said just under half on the new cases are coming from clusters.

The number of people coming to New Zealand overseas with Covid-19 has been dropping.

The most affected age group is the 20-29 age bracket.

286 people with Covid-19 are in this group.

Bloomfield was upbeat on the number of nasal swabs in New Zealand, saying there are plenty that can be distributed across the country.

Bloomfield said New Zealand has a great health care system.

He said New Zealand can be "increasingly confident" in its Covid-19 response.

He said the death rates in other countries is much higher than New Zealanders, which is currently at just 0.01 per cent.

Ardern has had no advice as to whether the September election should be postponed.

"It's too early for me to say what the situation in New Zealand will be in even a months' time," she said, on pushing out the election date.

Ardern said officials were in the process of looking into some businesses who are breaking the wage subsidy rules.
In fact, the enforcement team has been "beefed up".

Health Minister has 'no defence, no excuse' - PM

On Health Minister David Clark, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: "What he did was wrong, and there are no excuses."

She said the Government cannot afford massive disruption to the health care system.

"He broke the rules, and he needs to pay a price."

Ardern demoted him to the bottom of Cabinet this morning.

Clark this morning admitted to a 40km round trip to the beach with his family during the first week of the lockdown – something that was specifically advised against by the Ministry he leads.

This comes after he was forced to admit a 2.3-kilometre drive to a mountain bike trail last week.

She said Clark was "under no illusions" that she expects better.

Ardern said it was a "massive mistake".

She said removing Clark as the Minister was "not in the best interests for New Zealanders".

Finance Minister Grant Robertson will take over from Clark's Associate Finance responsibilities.

She said she was not interested in Clark's excuses - "not that he offered any".

She said the price for his actions cannot come at the expense of New Zealanders - she said it's too important for him to stay on as Health Minister during this time.

"Nothing else matters at this time," she said of the fight against Covid-19.

He has had to pay a personal price for this, but I'm determined that the health system will not."

"You will hear no defense, not excuse," she said, adding that she had a "duty of care to New Zealand.

She would not say if she would sack Clark as a Minister after Covid-19 has subsided.

She said her focus is on fighting Covid-19.

Ardern said it would be challenging to bring another Minister up to speed when it comes to the Health portfolio.

She said she was not willing to sacrifice the time to bring someone up to speed when New Zealand is facing a health pandemic.

She said she needed experience, not someone fresh when it comes to the Covid-19 fight.

"He must be a role-model," she said, adding that he had not been.

Bloomfield said he would continue to work closely with Clark, despite his demotion.

On coronavirus, Ardern said: "We do appear to be on track".

But she said this is not the time to relax.

Ardern said she had messaged Boris Johnson when he was first diagnosed with Covid-19.

The British PM was admitted to ICU early this morning after his condition deteriorated.

Ardern has asked for legal advice around the Ruby Princess' owners, given New Zealand has a lot of Covid-19 cases from the ship.

Bloomfield said there have so far been 291 reported breaches of the lockdown rules.

There have been 16 prosecutions and 263 warnings, he added.

Asked about seeing players from the Crusaders out training during the lockdown, Ardern said that goes against the rules.

"We can't do this alone, no one can be exempt."

When it comes to people with work visas who have lost their jobs, Ardern said this was an "ongoing discussion" with Ministers.

Ardern said her message to those in the healthcare system, she said it shouldn't take a pandemic to remind Kiwis how important they are.

NZ's borders still a risk

On New Zealand's borders, she said the Government sees it as an "ongoing" area of risk. The Government is doing all it can to strengthen that, she said.

She said border restrictions must be "watertight".

She indicated the Government would "ramp those up" and will be making more announcements about that "shortly".

Bloomfield said he was providing "active advice" to Cabinet about what should be happening at the borders.

Ardern said there are "well over" 1000 people in hotels - "that is only set to increase".
Those people came from overseas.

The Government is actively monitoring those people, she said.

There were "literally tens of thousands" of Kiwis returning home, Ardern said.

Tracking all of them was problematic, given the scale, she said

But she reiterated that the Government was looking to beef up its presence at the border.

Stay home over Easter

Speaking to Kiwis who might want to go away over the Easter break, Ardern made a familiar refrain: "Stay home".

Bloomfield called on people to have a "staycation" over the break.

More than 1 million Kiwis get wage subsidy, $6.6b paid out

The Government's wage subsidy to protect jobs and keep workers and businesses connected during the lockdown has now supported over a million New Zealanders, with $6.6 billion already paid out.