New Zealand has four new cases of COVID-19, bringing the country’s total to five, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed.

The new cases include one Auckland hospital worker, Ms Ardern told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday.

Ms Ardern said all cases are had been confirmed as the Delta variant.

She had already sent the nation into strict lockdown from midnight Tuesday, after the first infection emerged.

It was the country’s first case of coronavirus in six months.

All of NZ will be in lockdown for at least three days. But Auckland and Coromandel, a coastal region in which the first-identified patient had also spent time, will be locked down for seven.

With NZ imposing its toughest level four lockdown rules, schools, offices and all businesses will be shut and only essential services will operate.