A summary of developments as New Zealand enters it's first day of Alert Level 4 lockdown.
- New Zealand is in Alert Level 4 lockdown for three days, while Auckland and Coromandel will remain in Level 4 lockdown for seven days.
- It comes after a man in his 50s from Devonport on Auckland’s North Shore returned a positive result for Covid-19, having spent the weekend away in Coromandel.
- There are now seven cases of Covid in the community with two more announced at today's 1.00pm briefing - linked to the Devonport man. It has been confirmed he has the Delta variant.
- There are a number of locations of interest which are continuously being updated on the Ministry of Health's website . There are locations in both Coromandel and Auckland.
- Unsure what the rules are at level 4 ? You can visit the Government's official Covid website for all of the information.
2.32pm - He says he knows with Delta "the risks are higher" hence enforcement will be leaned into "more than" other lockdowns - he says "we just can't have crowds of people gathering" but also acknowledges most around the country have been "really good" at compliance.
2.30pm - Coster says police have the ability to enforce breaches to lockdown restrictions including arresting people for example - for failing to wear a mask.
2.26pm - Coster says there have been protests over lockdown in Nelson, Tauranga and Auckland today. Four people have been arrested in Tauranga and four arrested in Auckland. Billy Te Kahika has reportedly been arrested after attending an anti-lockdown protest outside TVNZ. Coster said police had given “plenty of opportunity” for the crowds outside TVNZ to disperse but when they didn’t, they were arrested.
2.21pm - Police Commissioner Andy Coster says police have turned around a large number people appearing to head to holiday destinations.
2.04pm - Ardern says having the vaccine will protect people threefold, according to the CDC. She says having the vaccine will make a difference and will mean people are less likely to catch Covid, less likely to get sick "or die". She says people who have been vaccinated still need to be careful because breakthrough infections can occur in those fully vaccinated.
2.00pm - Vaccinations in some sites will start this afternoon but from 8.00am tomorrow - all vaccination sites will be operating under Level 4 conditions across the country. Ardern says it means there won't be as many people coming through to enable social distancing and safety. She says if anyone is booked for a vaccine in the next three days and "haven't heard anything" people should still go. Those aged 40 plus can proceed to make bookings for a vaccine from today on the Book My Vaccine website.
On Tuesday a daily record of 55,688 vaccine doses were administered. This includes 35,499 first doses, and 20,189 second doses.
1.57pm - Ardern says from 11.50pm tonight, those aged 12 and over will need to wear a mask when visiting essential services like supermarkets and service stations. That goes for those who work in these facilites as well. Bus terminals and taxis are also places where mask-wearing is essential.
1.55pm - Ardern says 633 cases have reported in NSW today, 92 were in the community while infected. She says Level 4 restrictions are in place in New Zealand to make our lockdown "as short as possible".
1.52pm - Wastewater testing is underway across the Coromandel and other sites in the Bay of Plenty area along with 26 other sites across New Zealand, Bloomfield says.
1.49pm - Reports that the vaccine booking website has crashed are coming in.
1.47pm - The wife of Case A has returned a second negative test. The public health teams are investigating 16 close contacts, 14 have been contacted, the other two are being tracked down. Four of those contacts have been fully vaccinated, three partially vacccinated and the remainder unvaccinated. All those close contacts are self-isolating.
1.45pm - Bloomfield says the close contacts, being in their 20s have been "out and about a lot" and many locations of interest will be identified. Two locations are the Auckland Central Church of Christ in Freeman's Bay on Sunday and Sky City casino on Saturday evening and early hours of Sunday morning.
1.34pm - The other four comminicty cases reported today concern a work colleague of the original case (Case A) who is a 20-year-old male. There are three flatmates of the latter case, a 21-year-old female who works at Auckland City Hospital who has been fully vaccinated. In addition a 25-year-old female teacher from Avondale College who tested positive and a 29-year-old male who is also a flatmate. The two further cases are a 21-year-old female and a 19-year-old male who both live in Auckland and both are linked to the current cases as friends who have recently spent time together. Bloomfield says all seven cases are linked to each other.
1.29pm - Director General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield says in addition to the five cases reported today, a further two cases have been recorded, all are heading to Auckland’s quarantine facility. There are now seven cases which have been picked up in the community. In MIQ a further three cases have been reported.
1.25pm - Ardern says the fact the current community case is connected to the NSW outbreak is encouraging as officials try and “piece together this puzzle”. She says it gives officials “a lot of leads” to chase down “as quickly as we can”.
1.20pm - Ardern says there are no current matches from the border to the Auckland case. She says other lines of inquiry are now being investigated.
The border to Australia was closed on July 23. Ardern says everyone was compliant with testing requirements. The Government is preparing to contact any cases during the period when people returned to New Zealand over the following week – if the current case isn’t linked to current MIQ cases.
1.12pm - Ardern says “the natural place to start” is by looking into MIQ facilities. Three positive cases from Sydney have been detected in MIQ since July 1. She says one was detected on August 9 and two on August 14.
Positive cases are genome sequenced weekly. The results from the two MIQ cases will be available tonight to see if there is a match to the current community case.
1.09pm - Officials haven’t been able to ascertain where the case contracted the virus. Overnight as genome sequencing was underway, the results showed it was the Delta variant and is linked to cases in NSW. The case originated in Australia. Ardern says it has to be worked out how the virus “got here”.
1.06pm - Jacinda Ardern is speaking now at the 1.00pm update beginning by thanking New Zealanders for "playing their part".
12.27pm - 1 NEWS political reporter Benedict Collins said the Government, prior to the nationwide lockdown, had been planning to make an announcement Wednesday around mask use and the NZ COVID Tracer app.
At this stage, he said it is not known "exactly where they're going to land on this".
Masks could be made mandatory more wider than just on Auckland public transport and flights currently. QR codes may also be required to be scanned in certain settings or made mandatory, he said.
1 NEWS expects comments to be made on this in the approaching 1pm press conference.
12.17pm - As the Ministry of Health warned earlier Wednesday, queues for Covid-19 testing in Auckland and the Coromandel are long.
Breakfast reporter Larissa Howie has been at the pop-up testing site in Narrow Neck, on Auckland's North Shore, all morning.
She said "things really started to ramp up" at the site from 9am, with "hundreds" waiting to be tested.
However, she felt it was evidence people were keen to the right thing.
There are similar scenes in the Coromandel, with a testing station in the township now "getting really busy".
1 NEWS reporter Logan Church said the queue was "snaking right down the road".
"People here are taking no chances," he remarked.
He said some people, many of whom were employees of businesses listed as locations of interest, had been in the line for up to three hours.
12.08pm - 1 NEWS has had more of a statement from police on the Manaia bridge checkpoint Tuesday night.
"Police are aware of an unauthorised community checkpoint put in place yesterday evening at the Manaia Bridge in the Coromandel. We are working with those involved to ensure the situation is managed safely and calmly.
There have not been any arrests.
We reiterate that as during previous Covid-19 Alert Level 4 restriction periods, there should be no need for community checkpoints. Police will maintain a visible presence in communities across New Zealand to ensure people’s travel is for essential purposes only."
12.05pm - A statement has come through from the Australian Government's Department of Health.
There is no pause yet of the one-way bubble, which is Kiwis entering Australia.
"The Chief Medical Officer continues to closely monitor the emerging situation in New Zealand and assess the implications for Australia and travel."
11.15am - "Quite a number of people" aware of the country's looming Covid-19 lockdown Tuesday night attended a "large party" on Castle St, Dunedin.
Acting Sergeant Steve Griffiths told 1 NEWS police were called to the property on Tuesday, which is well-known to police.
He said those in attendance were "educated" about the lockdown.
"It's only three days. Surely we can get together after the three days and reminisce," Griffiths remarked.
Meanwhile, the queue for alcohol at Leith Liquor was out the door and down the street reportedly 20 minutes after the lockdown was announced.
10.30am - University of Auckland's Dr Joel Rindelaub said there should be "no surprises" there are Delta cases popping up Wednesday due to the revelations from the Jet Park quarantine facility.
Transmission within Jet Park in July was caused by rooms doors being opened simultaneously for a matter of seconds.
Three cases were recorded in the same bubble and room, but had been infected by a solo traveller across the hall, who never left their room.
An investigation found the doors had been opened at the same time for three to five seconds on four occasions between July 19 and 27 when the solo case would have been considered infectious.
Three of the occasions were due to regular meal deliveries and one was a health check.
All of the cases had the Delta variant.
Rindelaub told Breakfast earlier the country needed to "clean up our act" and told people to mask-up.
"The Dirty Delta is in town."
He said there was a much higher risk of spread in indoor environments with Delta, so said people needed to follow mask and physical distancing guidelines and for essential businesses to ensure there is airflow.
Rindelaub said one thing New Zealand could do is look to the US and consider a similar mandate around mask-use indoors, which is mandatory there.
"This Delta variant is trouble."
Rindelaub said New Zealand appeared to have learnt lessons from overseas, so it just needed to apply them.
As 1 NEWS Australia Correspondent Andrew Macfarlane detailed on Q+A Sunday , a different approach to the variant in New South Wales — not locking down earlier enough — spelled disaster for the state. He traced how it all went wrong.
There may be news in the 1pm press conference around mandatory mask use and QR code scanning.
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