New Zealand PM Ardern expects coronavirus cluster to grow further

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during a joint press conference held with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia, 28 February 2020.Reuters file photo

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday she expected the coronavirus cluster in the country to grow further before slowing down, as the Pacific nation reported an additional 13 new cases from domestic transmission.

"As we all learnt from our first experience with COVID, once you identify a cluster, it grows before it slows. We should expect that to be the case here," Ardern told a media briefing in Wellington.

The discovery of four infected family members in Auckland two days ago shocked a country that had not recorded a case of COVID-19 for more than three months.