Updated: There have been two more people die from COVID-19 since yesterday bringing New Zealand's death toll from the virus to four.

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay says both of the individual who died are older and had underlying health conditions.

One of the men who died was in his 80s and was in Wellington Regional Hospital, he first became unwell on March 26, he went into hospital on March 28 and was there until his death yesterday, she says.

The second man that died was in his 70s and is another one of the residents from Rosewood Rest Home in Christchurch.

He was part of a group of 20 residents that had been transferred to Burwood Hospital, as part of a cluster management process, she says.

The man was tested for COVID-19 on April 9 and returned a positive result, says Caroline.

Today's news reinforces the importance of the government's move to alert level four to break the chain of transmission and prevent deaths, she says.

'We want you to know that our health system will continue to do everything it can to support the fight against COVID-19.”

There are 29 new cases of COVID-19 today, made up of 20 confirmed cases and nine probable cases.

Since yesterday 49 people have recovered from the virus bringing the total number of recovered cases to 422.

'We continue to report more people recovered than new combined cases.”

The total number of confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand is 1312.

There are 15 people in hospital with five of those people in intensive care - One each in Wellington, Middlemore, Hawkes Bay, North Shore Hospital and Dunedin. One of the ICU patients is in a critical condition in Dunedin Hospital.

There is still a 'clear but declining link” to overseas travel at 40 per cent of cases with ongoing links to confirmed cases in New Zealand at 46 per cent including those in clusters, says Caroline.

Community transmission is at two per cent with 11 per cent of cases still being investigated.

Three of the four deaths are linked to clusters. There are 13 significant clusters in the country. The new cluster is associated with the George Manning rest home in Christchurch.

Yesterday 3061 tests were carried out with a rolling seven day average of 3619 and total tests to date are 58,746.

Earlier: The All of Government COVID-19 National Response will provide an update at 1.00 pm today.

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay will be speaking.

What we know so far

On Friday there were 44 new cases of COVID-19 - made up of 23 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 21 new probable cases.

At this stage, 14 of the new 44 cases are linked to existing clusters, with investigations ongoing for others.

There has been one new recorded case in Rotorua bringing the total number of cases there to nine.

The number or cases in the Western Bay of Plenty remains the same at 38, there is still only one case in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and Taupo numbers are unchanged with four cases.

The country recorded its second death from the virus. The woman aged in her nineties is from Christchurch and passed away on Thursday, she had recently returned a positive test to COVID-19.

She was a resident of the Rosewood rest home and was part of a group of 20 residents that had been transferred to Burwood Hospital, as part of a cluster management process.

"Our thoughts are with the woman's family," says Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay.

The elderly 'frail” women had common age-related conditions prior to testing positive, says Caroline.

The combined total of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand is 1283.

There are now 373 reported cases of people recovering from the virus – an increase of 56 from Thursday.

There are 16 people in hospital. That includes five in intensive care – one each in Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Waitemata, Counties Manukau and Southern District Health Boards. Two of these ICU patients in Southern and Waitemata DHBs are in a critical condition.

For the cases the Ministry of Health has information on, there is still a strong but declining link to overseas travel at 40 per cent, and ongoing links to confirmed cases within New Zealand at 44 per cent including those in clusters already known about.

Community transmission remains around two per cent with the MOH still investigating 14 per cent of cases.

There are still 12 significant clusters, the three largest clusters remain the same: Matamata with 69 cases up 5 on Thursday, Bluff at 87 cases, and Auckland's Marist College with 84 cases.

In terms of testing, on Thursday there were 4520 tests carried out, with a rolling 7 day average of 3700 and total tests to date of 55,685.