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An Auckland nurse and her child have been confirmed with H1N1 flu after returning home from a holiday in the UK on Saturday.
The nurse worked one shift at Auckland Hospital's Renal Medicine and Transplant unit on Monday before falling ill.
Her child went to the ABC Childcare Centre in Remuera on the same day.
Auckland Hospital Chief Medical Officer, Dr David Sage, says the hospital has acted swiftly to identify, isolate and treat all those potentially affected as soon as the alert was raised.
That includes staff, patients and visitors in Ward 71 on Monday. A number of surgeries have been cancelled and some staff have been quarantined.
He says so far no-one else is showing flu symptoms.
The child-care centre has been closed temporarily and will remain so until Tuesday - and efforts are being made to contact children who were there on Monday.
Seven staff at the day care centre have been quarantined and given Tami-flu as a precaution.
That brings the total number of people with the H1N1 flu in New Zealand to 27, up from 23 on Wednesday.
Included are two new cases in Waikato and one is a person who returned from Melbourne last Friday.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Tony Ryall says the increase in confirmed cases in New Zealand does not come as a surprise to authorities.
Ryall says people should not panic, saying that the flu spreading was inevitable and there are plans in place to deal with the situation.
While health officials have been successful in delaying the spread so far, Ryall says it's a timely reminder and if people do fall ill this winter they should stay home and ring their doctor.
Of the confirmed cases, ten are still in isolation and being treated with Tamiflu.
The rest are fully recovered.
Are you a relative of a patient in Ward 71? ONE News would like to talk to you.
We would also like to hear from parents of children
who attend the ABC Childcare Centre in Remuera.
Email us at
news@tvnz.co.nz
