New Zealand has recorded its third new case of the coronavirus this week as quarantine breaches and other failures undermined public confidence days after it declared itself among the first countries in the world to be free of the virus.

Reuters reported that the new case is a man in his 60s who flew in from Lahore in Pakistan, via Doha and Melbourne on June 11, and is in quarantine.

It comes after two women who had arrived from Britain and were given permission to leave quarantine early on compassionate grounds tested positive.

The government has been forced to explain why the women were let out without proper testing, and questions were raised about whether quarantine facilities are being properly managed.