Auckland will move to Alert Level 1 — joining the rest of New Zealand with the least restrictive level of Covid-19 precautions — starting at midday today.
The Prime Minister announced Cabinet’s decision for New Zealand’s largest city while she was in Auckland this morning.
Auckland has been in Alert Level 2 since Sunday, following a seven-day lockdown spurred by a community case linked to the February cluster.
That person went to multiple locations before getting tested, and didn't isolate after getting tested — sparking fears, so far unfounded, that it could cause a new surge of cases.
There have been no new community transmission cases of Covid-19 for the past 11 days.
There was one new case to report in managed isolation today that was detected at the border, the Ministry of Health confirmed in a press release one hour later.
Ardern said Cabinet made its decision based on no community cases being detected today 14 days on since the last exposure event in Auckland. All close contacts of case M testing negative for the virus also played a part in the decision to move down alert levels today.
She says the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, says the February outbreak of Covid-19 has been contained.
“I know everyone in our largest city will be looking forward to a weekend without further restrictions and feeling mostly back to normal.
“Auckland deserves that. Once again the city has stepped up and did what it needed to do in the face of these new community cases and for all that we say thank you.”
The PM delivered the good news just minutes before the change in Covid-19 restrictions took effect. (Source: Other)
Ardern also reiterated that Aucklanders must stay vigilant in Alert Level 1 to avoid another lockdown.
"We are asking that everyone keeps up the good habits that help us deal with cases if they emerge. That includes scanning in or keeping a record of everywhere you go.
“We each have the power to keep the country at Level 1, by continuing to follow health guidelines, including vigilant record keeping."
In addition, all contacts of the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive on Sunday have returned a negative test result so far. Although that person went into the community — one trip to a supermarket near Auckland Airport — the case is believed to be related to the border rather than the result of community transmission.
The rest of New Zealand has been at Alert Level 1 since last Sunday.
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