New Zealand's COVID-19 outbreak jumped to 21 cases on Thursday, but the authorities said the virus may not have been in the community for long as they linked its origin to a recent returnee from Sydney.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Chief Ashley Bloomfield told a news conference that 11 new cases had been reported over the past day.
Ardern said genome sequencing revealed the current positive cases were a close match to a returnee from Sydney who arrived on a flight on Aug. 7.