New Zealand confirms two new cases ending coronavirus free run

FILE PHOTO: New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during an interview with Reuters in Wellington, New Zealand, December 11, 2019. REUTERS/Yiming Woo

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand said on Tuesday that it has two new cases of the coronavirus, both related to recent travel from the UK, ending a 24-day streak of no new infections in the country.

The new infections are a set back to New Zealand, which lifted all social and economic restrictions except border controls last week, declaring it had no new or active cases of the coronavirus, one of the first countries in the world to return to pre-pandemic normality.