The northern parts of Northland will move to Alert Level 3 restrictions at 11.59pm on Tuesday to midnight on Monday, November 8 due to two mystery Covid-19 cases.
A boundary from Kaeo River Bridge to Hokianga Harbour will separate northern Northland, with the region below it staying at Alert Level 2.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins made the announcement at a snap media conference on Tuesday evening.
Ministry of Health said Tuesday's new case was in Kaitaia and was a household member of the Northland case announced on Monday.
Chris Hipkins made the announcement Tuesday as there are two cases that can’t be linked to others in the outbreak. (Source: Other)
Hipkins said the case today did not have a clear link to a current case, with a "strong possibility there are one or more missing links".
"There is no clear or even probable source of the infection, which means there will be potentially missing links still out there, still potentially infectious, and there could be chains of transmission that have not yet been detected.
"While we do that work, we want to keep the lockdown as localised as possible... but we do need to identify whether there's any further transmission out there."
There was one new community case reported in Northland on Tuesday, bringing the total number of active cases to 11 in the region.
The northern part of Northland will be moving to Alert Level 3 after unlinked cases. (Source: Other)
All of Northland was in Alert Level 2, but had been at Level 3 from October 6 until October 19.
Dr Bloomfield said he was briefed of the situation at 3.30pm on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister was in Northland today visiting vaccination clinics, but has since left. Hipkins said she was not in the area that will be going to Level 3.
Rules in Parliament previously required any MP who had been in a Level 3 area to have a negative Covid test in the 72 hours before returning to Wellington, followed by five days isolation in Wellington and a negative day 5 test.
That was changed today, with Speaker Trevor Mallard saying he agreed to change the rules for MPs coming from high alert level areas, back to Parliament.
"The new requirement will be that members have the negative result of a Covid test taken not less than 72 hours before they left a Level 3 area."
He has asked officials to look into making available rapid antigen testing "to attempt to keep staff safe".
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