New Zealand's first case of coronavirus in the community for more than two months has been identified as the South African variant and was likely contracted in hotel quarantine, health minister Chris Hipkins said.
The 56-year-old woman, who recently returned from Europe, tested positive on Saturday, 10 days after she completed her compulsory two weeks in isolation.
New Zealand has been widely praised for its handling of the pandemic, with just 25 deaths from 1,927 confirmed virus cases in a population of five million, according to AFP.
The latest case is New Zealand's first in the community since mid-November and has been classified as a strain said to be more transmissible.
“The strain of infection is the South African variant and the source of infection is highly likely to be a fellow returnee,” said Hipkins.
