‘We need to act’
Auckland moves back to alert level 3, the rest of New Zealand to level 2 for seven days from 6am today after PM and Dr Ashley Bloomfield make urgent late night announcement to reveal new cases in South Auckland and breaches of isolation.
AUCKLAND has been plunged back into a week-long level 3 lockdown after two fresh community cases and a warning from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that people refusing to play by the rules had put the whole country at risk.
‘‘People who should have been in isolation weren’t and that has created multiple high-risk situations,’’ Ardern said.
She flew back to Wellington from Auckland after the case was confirmed yesterday and the decision to go back into lockdown followed an emergency Cabinet meeting.
Auckland hospitality businesses are devastated to be pushed back into alert level 3 in what was set to be a bumper weekend for the city.
Julie White, chief executive of Hospitality NZ, said it was devastating for her industry. Some hotels had been at 100 per cent capacity because of various events. ‘‘It’s literally a nightmare,’’ White said.
It comes just weeks after Auckland came out of lockdown following the Valentines Day outbreak.
The case, known as case M, is an older sibling of a Papatoetoe High School student who was a casual plus contact. The mother of case M had also tested positive.
The Ministry of Health had earlier issued a press release stating the student had tested negative on three occasions.
Genome sequencing is now under way, trying to find how – and if – the case is linked.
If a link can’t be found, however, this will be something ‘‘we need to act on’’, the prime minister said.
The lack of a clear epidemiological link was one of the drivers behind the decision to go back into lockdown.
But there were also concerns about the fact the person had been symptomatic since Tuesday, yet had been out and about in Auckland, meaning there is a good chance of infection elsewhere.
The person visited the GP in the afternoon on Friday, and went to the gym after having their Covid-19 test.
They were at the gym on Saturday, February 20 between 12.20pm and 1.45pm and on Friday, February 26 between 3.20pm and 4.40pm.
The gym has temporarily closed and is urging members to self-isolate and get tested.
Other place of interest include Manukau Institute of Technology, Hunter Plaza on February 26, Burger King Highland Park on February 25, Your Health Pharmacy on February 23, and Pak ‘n’ Save Manukau on February 21.
Those who visited these locations are considered casual contacts and should self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said.
Ardern said it was ‘‘frustrating’’ and pleaded with people to stay the course as vaccines began to be rolled out.
As well as the failure to isolate, there had been a number of cases now where scanning hadn’t taken place with the tracer app.
‘‘In its totality that has created multiple points of risk,’’ Ardern said.
Auckland will move to alert level 3 for seven days. The rest of the country is moved to level 2. The alert levels kicked in from 6am today.
The announcement came shortly before the Joseph Parker/ David Fa heavyweight boxing bout at Spark Arena, where thousands were in attendance.
Ardern confirmed a border is being set up around Auckland again.
Another lockdown will spark questions about whether the Government took Auckland out of lockdown too soon after the Valentines Day cluster. But Ardern said there was nothing to suggest that anything was lost by not being at level 3 the whole time.
The problem was people failing to follow the rules.
‘‘We cannot exist in an environment where we set rules and they [are] breached consistently.’’
That would leave the country unable to contain Covid-19.