Wellington, Jan 3 (IANS): A total of 19 new coronavirus cases were reported at the New Zealand border in the last three days, as the country announcing tightened border restrictions on Sunday.

The new cases were all detected in managed isolation while no new infection was found in the community, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of Health as saying in a statement on Sunday.

The Ministry's last media statement on the Covid-19 case numbers was on December 31, 2020.

The new figure has increased the overall caseload to 2,162, while total number of active cases in country was currently 72. The death toll stood at 25.

The total tests processed by New Zealand laboratories to date reached 1,414,422, according to the statement.

The Minister for COVID-19 Response, Chris Hipkins has also announced on Sunday that, from January 15, travellers from the US and Britain will be required to get a negative test result for Covid-19 before departing for New Zealand, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand as well.

"The pre-departure test is an additional requirement to the day zero/day one testing and stay in their room in MIQ (Managed isolation and quarantine) requirement for arrivals from higher risk countries that came into force last Friday.

"Travellers from Britain and the US will still have to go through New Zealand's 14-day quarantine regime," said Hipkins.

New Zealand is currently at Covid-19 Alert Level one with no restrictions on gathering.