The upcoming Pasifika Festival has been cancelled for the second time in a row amid fears of the coronavirus outbreak, but other public gatherings have been given the go-ahead, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
It comes as the Covid-19 Cabinet Committee convened late last night to consider the latest health advice received by the Government.
"The committee made the decision that we had considerable concerns around the staging of Pasifika," the Prime Minister told reporters.
"We obviously raised and discussed those concerns with Auckland Council, and a decision was made not to go ahead with that event."
Auckland mayor Phil Goff confirmed the news this morning.
"It is disappointing for all of us as Aucklanders, and particularly for our Pacific communities, that the festival will not be going ahead," Mr Goff said.
"However, Aucklanders will understand the council taking commonsense steps to reduce the risk of the virus spreading."
The country so far has five confirmed cases of coronavirus and two probable cases. There have been no new confirmed cases in six consecutive days, according to the Ministry of Health.
Ms Ardern added, however, that the ministry's advice on mass gatherings "has not changed".
"You will see we have not had any new cases for several days – that is the case for today as well – and we don't have community transmission. However, there were special circumstances that related to Pasifika."
The event, which was to be held over two days in Auckland, would have been the country's largest event this weekend.
"It is the largest event happening in New Zealand this weekend; it is in Auckland, near where we’ve had our previous cases; there are 60,000 individuals who are due to attend the festival; and MBIE [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment] advised me in the last 24 to 48 hours that they were expecting a number of those in attendance to be from within the Pacific Islands. We also had the first case in the Pacific over the last 36 hours."
The Government is also in talks about putting measures in place for people travelling from New Zealand into the Pacific, Ms Ardern said.
“We take very seriously our duty of care. We are a gateway, alongside Australia, We’ve seen the impact of outbreaks like measles in Samoa, and we do want to do everything we can to play our role, given an outbreak there could have an extraordinary impact.”
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