WELLINGTON (REUTERS) - The number of coronavirus cases in New Zealand crossed the 100 mark on Monday (March 23) as the country reported 36 new infections amid growing pressure on the government to further tighten restrictions to contain the outbreak.

New Zealand's opposition National Party said it had put on hold its campaign for a general election on Sept 19.

"This morning I have asked all of our MPs to suspend any form of campaigning," said Mr Simon Bridges, leader of the main centre-right opposition National Party.

Mr Bridges called for the government to raise alert levels in the country to its highest, level 4.

"We won't regret moving quickly to stop this virus spreading. We may have regrets if we don't," he said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last Saturday that the current alert level was level 2, which means the virus was contained but there was a risk of community transmission growing.

New Zealand has 102 cases and no deaths.

Of the new cases, two are being treated as related to community transmission, Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said in a news conference on Monday.

More than half the cases are directly related to overseas travel, while most of the remainder are close contacts of a previously confirmed case or associated with an event where there were confirmed cases, such as the Queenstown World Hereford Cattle conference, he said.

"We have our two cases of likely community transmission. This makes the core public health messages even more important: physical distancing, cough and sneeze etiquette, washing hands and more importantly not, going out if you are unwell," the health ministry said in a statement after the announcement.