New Zealand reports seven new confirmed coronavirus case

New Zealand on Saturday reported seven cases of the new coronavirus for the last 24 hours as a lockdown in the country's biggest city, Auckland, was extended on Friday in response to the country's first coronavirus outbreak in months.

Six of the seven new cases have been linked to the cluster responsible for all the previous community cases, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a media briefing in Wellington.

The lockdown in Auckland, home to 1.7 million people, was extended for nearly two weeks, after New Zealand reported 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday. (Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly)