Still one active case

New Zealand has no new cases of coronavirus for the ninth day in a row.

As at 9am yesterday, 1504 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in the country,

1154 of which were confirmed by tests. The other 350 were ‘‘probable’’ cases of the illness.

Just one person – who is in their 50s and linked to the St Margaret’s Hospital and Rest Home cluster in Auckland – is believed to have an ‘‘active’’ case of the illness. That person is not in hospital.

The latest data indicated New Zealand was on track to becoming one of the first countries in the world to eliminate all active Covid-19 cases.

However, it could be a few more weeks before the country is completely free of

Covid-19 as a person was only considered ‘‘recovered’’ at least 10 days after their first symptoms appeared and after they have been symptom-free for a minimum of 48 hours.

Since the pandemic reached New Zealand shores on February 28, it has claimed the lives of 22 Kiwis.

The death of 96-year-old St Margaret’s resident Eileen Hunter has been included in the toll, despite the Ministry of Health announcing Covid19 did not cause her death. Hunter contracted the illness before recovering.

The ministry said it counted the Auckland woman’s death in the official statistics in order to ensure the country had a full picture of the impact coronavirus had on the health of New Zealanders. Hunter underwent two tests for coronavirus, both of which returned negative results, before she died on May 24.

In total, 280,293 tests for the virus have been conducted in New Zealand. On Saturday, 2111 tests were completed.