Auckland to move to alert level 2
Auckland will move back down to alert level 2 at 6am tomorrow, after a full seven days under level 3 restrictions.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement during the post-cabinet press conference at 4pm yesterday afternoon, alongside Director-general of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
The region has been at alert level 3 since 6am last Sunday, after a new case (case M) was announced last Saturday.
The person had been out in the community while infectious over the course of a week.
The 21-year-old man visited a number of ‘‘high-risk’’, ‘‘well populated’’ places while infectious, including a supermarket, gym and the Manukau Institute of Technology university campus, sparking fears of potential widespread community transmission.
Yesterday marked the fifth consecutive day with no new community cases linked to the cluster, despite officials warning any new positive cases would likely crop-up from Wednesday.
Cabinet will consider moving Auckland to level 1 at the start of next weekend if it is safe to do so, Ardern announced.
This will mark roughly 14 days since the infectious period of the last cases in the community.
‘‘We still want some level of restrictions in place’’ if new cases are found, Ardern said. ‘‘Sticking with the full seven days was the wise approach.’’
The rest of the country is at alert level 2, and will move to level 1 at 6am tomorrow.
Ardern said the fact there had been no new cases for five days was ‘‘good news’’.
Alert level 3 had provided authorities with an ‘‘extra layer of security while we addressed the unknowns’’.
The decision to move back down alert levels had made been made on the basis there had been no new cases, ‘‘excellent’’ testing numbers, and the close contacts were being managed, she said.
There have been 15 confirmed cases of Covid-19 linked to the Auckland February cluster to date, across four South Auckland families.
The cluster saw Auckland plunged into alert level 3 restrictions twice in two weeks after the first three cases were announced on Valentines Day.
The region was first raised to level 3 on midnight on Sunday, February 14, to midnight on Wednesday, February 17.
Aucklanders then spent five days at level 2, before joining the rest of the country at alert level 1 at midnight on Monday, February 22.
It wasn’t even a week before it was announced Auckland would move back into level 3 during an impromptu press conference at 9.15pm on Saturday, February 27.
In announcing the move down alert levels, Ardern reminded people that there can be no more than 100 people at social events in level 2 – including church services on Sunday.
Of the close and casual contacts linked to the February cluster, the majority have returned negative results.
Two outstanding results for casual plus contacts from the Manukau Institute of Technology are being followed up, 29 casual plus contacts from Cityfitness in Hunters Plaza are due for a test and are being followed up, and 43 self-identified contacts from Kmart Botany are yet to be tested.
There are still about 10 people who officials do not yet have results for who attended the gym, two of whom contact tracers had as yet been unable to find, Bloomfield announced.