HIPKINS GOES ON DEFENSIVE

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has defended the Government’s decision to lift a short lockdown of Auckland only days ago, as the city returns to alert level 3 restrictions.

At the discovery of another community case of Covid-19 on Saturday night, Cabinet placed Auckland into a seven-day lockdown and the rest of the country into alert level 2 restrictions.

A previous three-day lockdown, declared at the discovery of the outbreak on February 14, was lifted by Cabinet, and then Auckland city was moved to alert level 1 a week ago. Yet the virus continued to spread as health officials tested, traced and asked more than 1000 people to self-isolate.

Hipkins yesterday said Cabinet was not wrong to lift a lockdown of Auckland 10 days ago and he placed responsibility for the virus’ continued spread on people not following the rules.

Opposition MPs have criticised the Government for leaving the prior lockdown, with National Party leader Judith Collins saying yesterday it was a ‘‘brave call’’.

‘‘Looking at all the information we had last week, I still think the decision we made last week was a fair one. But the reality is, we have got new information now,’’ Hipkins said.

‘‘If we had continued to hold Auckland at alert level 3 . . . I think we would have had a very strong chorus of people saying: There is no justification for this; and they would have largely been correct, because we did not have any information to justify keeping Auckland and the country at higher alert levels.’’

Hipkins said it was ‘‘unfortunate’’ that contacts of the prior cases in this outbreak had not acted as they should have – yet he insisted he was not blaming them for the Government’s latest decision. He described one of the

latest Covid-19 case, labelled Case M, as having ‘‘made some mistakes and some big mistakes’’.

‘‘This potentially was avoidable if everybody had done exactly what they are asked to do at the different alert levels and in their different circumstances but it is clear a number of people did not.

‘‘I don’t want to get into blame. ‘‘There are statements of fact and a fact is a fact . . . If we pile in to people who have made mistakes . . . then the people who are sitting at home thinking ‘Oh goodness, maybe I should have gone and gotten a test’, will actually be less likely to go and get a test.’’

Hipkins said a substantial number of people – ‘‘well over a thousand’’ – were being asked to selfisolate due to their possible connection to the outbreak.

‘‘That is one of the things that is an area of concern. We are working really very hard; daily phone calls to people and so on. But, again, we do not put a policeman at every door at every house.’’

Hipkins said contact tracers were reporting a high-degree of goodwill and compliance from the people who had been asked to selfisolate. ‘‘It only takes one or two people to not follow the rules, and if they happen to be the ones who have [Covid-19], then here we are.’’

The Government made the system of self-isolating and enforcement ‘‘as robust as we possibly can’’, he said. ‘‘Obviously we are now talking about a much larger group of people than we were talking about a week ago, and so that is one of the things we have to think about with our alert levels.

‘‘But the reality is, we are working very, very hard to make sure everyone who needs to be tested is being tested, and everyone who needs to stay home is staying home,’’ Hipkins said.

Collins, speaking on TVNZ’s Q+A, said there needed to be a stronger approach to make sure people observed self-isolation, including potentially making people take and send photographs of themselves proving where they were.