LIVE: Jacinda Ardern delivers the latest update

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Finance Grant Robertson are giving a media briefing on day one of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have now been 368 confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand - the Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield confirmed 84 in the last 24 hours.

He says while 37 individuals had recovered, there were eight people in hospital, six of whom are stable. A man in his 70s is in Nelson Hospital's ICU in a critical condition.

New Zealand is now in a National State of Emergency for at least seven days.

Ahead of the lockdown the prime minister was urging everyone to stay at home and warned that the number of COVID-19 cases could continue to rise during the lockdown period.

Civil Defence Emergency Management director Sarah Stuart-Black says while most people were complying with the lockdown, there were several incidents of people gathering and police has responded to those.

The country is currently in a State of Emergency that will go on until next week. It is also in a lockdown for at least four weeks.

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