Jacinda Ardern has doubled the defence force personnel serving at New Zealand's border regime after days of sustained criticism of running a lax testing regime.
The military involvement is being doubled to around 1200 personnel; the country's largest deployment since providing support for East Timor's transition to independence two decades ago.
In a much tamer mission, defence force personnel will provide support and security at hotels where international arrivals are undergoing their mandatory fortnight of isolation.
They will replace private security.
Another 80 military personnel will assist customs at international ports, 70 more will assist police with traffic management, and a further 100 will help provide "electoral support" around the country's 17 October election.
The Labour leader has face steady criticism in recent days after investigative reporting revealed regular testing at isolation facilities was not occurring.
Ms Ardern, her Ministers and the country's top doctor Ashley Bloomfield have each steadfastly refused to accept accountability - though the PM agreed testing was "not being executed at the scale and speed necessary".
"This extra support should give them extra confidence that we're supporting the Ministry of Health to undertake what is a significant job," she said.
On Wednesday, health officials announced six new cases of COVID-19, five of which were community infections.
Ms Ardern called that "encouraging".
"At this stage we are not seeing a surge in community cases. We have not seen any new cases outside of that identified Auckland cluster ... and the perimeter of the virus is not exponentially," she said.
The cluster size has now reached 75, with a majority of those to have caught COVID-19 under 40 years of age.
Maori and Pasifika are also hugely over-represented in the cluster, with 64 of the 75 cases.
Health officials have identified 18 households, two workplaces and one church as vectors for the spread of the virus.
Dr Bloomfield said 1983 close contacts had been identified, contacting 1861 of them for testing.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your state’s restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
