A 56 year old woman returned from an overseas trip late last month and tested positive for the coronavirus days after a two week mandatory quarantine at the border.

Under quarantine, she had tested negative twice.

A top New Zealand health officials said it's possible her case is a variant found in the UK or elsewhere.

We are working on the assumption that, uh this is a positive case and that it is a more transmissible variant, either one of the the one identified first in South Africa or the UK or potentially Brazil or another more transmissible variant, health officials added.

It's unknown if the woman caught the disease abroad or locally.

New Zealand last recorded a community case in mid November, according to the Health Ministry, online, the island nation of five million people has virtually eliminated Cove in 19 within its borders, with less than 2000 cases since the global health crisis began, helped by a strict lock down and its geographical isolation.

But with cove in 19 raging globally, Mawr positive cases air returning to New Zealand, raising concern of a possible community outbreak of aim or transmissible, variant pressure has been mounting on Prime Minister Jacinda Arden earns government to vaccinate the population, but she has said a mass rollout won't begin until the second half of this year.