Areas of South of Auckland will move to Level 3 on Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Venkat Raman
Auckland, August 27, 2021
The New Zealand Police is getting tough with people who breach the rules in force under Lockdown Level 4.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said that the alert level will remain the same over the weekend and hence appalled to the people to be compliant.
“All Police districts will ensure that they have high visibility in the community where people are accessing essential services, and on the roads, to deter travel that is not essential. The vast majority of New Zealanders have demonstrated an amazing level of compliance, and we need to ensure their hard work and sacrifice is not compromised by a few who deliberately break the rules. People can expect that police will intensify our enforcement of the Level 4 restrictions, and more people will be stopped and questioned about their reason for moving away from home,” he said in a Statement issued this evening.
Following is the update of Covid-19-related information:
Key things to note:
- All of New Zealand remains at Alert Level 4 until at least 11.59 pm on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. From Wednesday, September 1, 2021, the plan is for all areas south of Auckland is to move to Alert Level 3. Until then, we remain at Alert Level 4, and New Zealanders must stay home this weekend to stop Delta.
- Alert level settings for Auckland and Northland will be reviewed on Monday, August 30, 2021, and it is expected that Auckland will need another Two weeks at Alert Level 4 to ensure Delta is not spreading more widely.
- There are 70 new cases of Covid-19 in the community for a total of 347 cases, of which 333 are in Auckland and 14 are in Wellington. There are no new cases in managed isolation.
- There are 278 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 69 for which links are yet to be fully established.
- Yesterday, 37,020 Covid tests were processed across New Zealand. Testing centres in Auckland had a busy day with more than 18,000 swabs taken across the city. For up-to-date information on all testing locations, please visit Healthpoint.
- Hospitals across the country are safely managing anyone needing acute hospital care and capacity is good. Hospital occupancy is around 75% with ICU occupancy at around 58%. Remember, anyone who needs care for any reason should not delay and seek help.
- As of 8 am today, 29,851 individual contacts have been identified and 76% have had a test.
- Additional locations of interest continue to be identified. Please remember to regularly check the Ministry of Health’s website. If you were at a location of interest at the specified time, please self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800-3585453 for advice on testing.
- Yesterday 90,757 vaccine doses were administered. Of these, 65,541 were first doses and 25,216 were second doses. More than 3.11 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered to date with 2 million first doses and 1.1 million second doses.
- Remember, for all queries related to Covid-19, please encourage people to check the unite against covid-19 website in the first instance. It is continuously updated with the latest Covid-19 information about Alert Level 3 and 4.
Alert Level 3 guidelines
- Many things at Alert Level 3 will stay the same as Level 4
- Stay at home and stay local
- If you are sick, get a test
- Check locations of interest regularly
- If you are a contact of a confirmed case or were at a location of interest, you should not leave the house for any reason until you’re cleared by health staff. This means you cannot go to work or go to the supermarket. All household members need to stay home until the person who went to a location of interest returns a negative day 5 test result. Ring a friend or other family members to see if they can drop food or supplies at your door while you need to stay at home
- Get vaccinated – vaccine bookings are open to everyone 12 and over from Wednesday, September 1, 2021. Everyone aged 30 and over can book now
- Face coverings will be mandatory in more places, as more businesses and services can operate. It is encouraged to wear a face covering whenever you leave home
- Using the Covid-19 Tracer App, or manual record keeping, will be mandatory in seven days from today at most public locations and some businesses across all Alert Levels
- Keep a 2-metre distance from people outside your bubble.
- There are only slight differences in restrictions between Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 3. It is most important to stay home, exercise locally and limit movement.
Travel across Alert Level Boundaries
- You can only travel (including in a private car or on public transport) for essential personal movement.
- If you need to use public transport, try to avoid peak times unless you are going to work or school.
- You can only travel in or out of an Alert Level 3 area from an area that is at another Alert Level if you are:
- a worker travelling to provide Alert Level 4 services
- urgent care of a child or to provide care or support to a person in a critical or terminal condition
- shared caregiving arrangements
- to access a health service with appointment (or receive their Pfizer vaccine in the same or adjourning district)
- to access a judicial institution where require or permitted, or to leave or relocate home on Court order
- to return home from hospital or residential care or health service or relocate to another hospital or residential care or health service
- emergencies
- to leave New Zealand
- to return home from an Alert Level 3 area an Alert Level 4 area
- to go home after leaving MIQ (or arrival in New Zealand where no MIQ is required)
- to care for pets or other animals, if travel is necessary to prevent a breach of the Animal Welfare Act 1999 and no one else in the area can provide the care
- To find out who is permitted to travel at Alert Levels 4 and 3, visit unite against covid-19.
- The MBIE business travel document system will be open for applications from midday on Sunday, August 29, 2021 at govt.nz for those businesses with Level 4 essential workers who will need to cross the regional boundary.
MIQ Update
- There are currently 521 rooms designated for quarantine across the country – 445 in Auckland, 38 in Wellington and 38 in Christchurch.
- There are 285 rooms available for close contacts of community cases
- Additional rooms can be made available as part of MIQ’s contingency planning, although there is not an unlimited supply.
- Today, August 27, there are 281 people in quarantine occupying 169 quarantine rooms
- Auckland – 255 people in 152 rooms
- Wellington – 16 people in 12 rooms
- Christchurch 10 people in 5 rooms
- Today, 27 August, there are 26 close contacts in isolation occupying 18 rooms
- Auckland – 25 people in 17 rooms
- Wellington – 0 people in 0 rooms
- Christchurch 1 person in 1 room
Source: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Wellington
