Team was let down, says PM

An increasingly angry Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says recent Covid-19 cases have committed intolerable breaches of the rules and have let down the ‘‘team of 5 million’’.

But Ardern stopped short of insisting the Covid-19 cases, which included two mothers who went for a walk together during alert level 3, should be punished. Instead, she urged people to challenge their family and work colleagues if they do not follow the rules.

‘‘Even with the full understanding of human fallibility, it is not appropriate, and it is not OK for members of a team of 5 million to let the rest of us down,’’ Ardern said.

‘‘If there is any question mark right now over there being consequences, you know, those individuals are facing the full judgment of the entire nation. There are consequences, undoubtedly.’’

It now appears Ardern and her Cabinet locked down Auckland at the discovery of a community case without a clear connection to the existing cluster – only to discover it was a previously undisclosed contact with a known case.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said it had been determined a mother in a second family identified as having Covid-19 had met the mother of the third family to catch the virus, Case N, for a walk.

The pair met up during the prior Covid-19 alert level 3, after Case F had been asked to quarantine due to their child attending Papatoetoe High School but before any member of the family had tested positive for Covid-19.

The walk was not previously disclosed to contact tracers when Case F was interviewed.