A daily wrap of all the main developments in the Covid-19 Delta outbreak as New Zealand is plunged into lockdown for the fifth time. Video / NZ Herald.
An injured mountain biker in Taupō and beachgoers in Whangamatā are among those to attract police attention for lockdown rule breaking over the weekend.
It comes as police reveal 29 people had been charged for breaking alert level 4 restrictions since the lockdown began and 5pm yesterday.
One of whom is a person in the Bay of Plenty after they were accused of flouting restrictions last week. They were charged twice.
Police have also issued 16 formal warnings and 31 infringement notices in the Bay of Plenty over the same period.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the Taupō mountain biker fell on a bike track and had to be winched out by a rescue helicopter.
"Police will be speaking to the biker at a later date and enforcement action for breaching restrictions will be considered," Coster said.
Meanwhile, in Whangamatā, a number of formal warnings were issued to people who headed to the beach on Sunday. Warnings were also issued to people dropping off recycling at the local transfer station.
The majority of the 29 people charged came following protest activity, Coster said.
"Of the 33 charges filed, 16 are for Failing to Comply with Order (Covid-19), 12 for Failure to Comply with Direction/Prohibition/Restriction and five for Health Act breaches," he said.
"In the same period, 85 people were issued with formal warnings. Thirty-two of the formal warnings were for Failing to Comply with Order (Covid-19), 21 for Failure to Comply with Direction/Prohibition/Restriction and 32 for Health Act breaches.
"Police have received a total of 5848 online breach notifications – 3526 about a gathering, 1788 about a business, and 534 about an individual."
In addition to the online breach reports, a total of 4110 Covid-19 related calls were made to the 105 phone line.
"The majority (2898) of calls were requests for information, and 1212 were to report perceived Covid-19 breaches," Coster said.
Police began issuing infringements for Covid-19 related breaches from Thursday last week, August 19.
As at 5pm on August 22, police had issued 365 infringements nationwide:
• Person failed to remain at current home/residence – 328 • Person failed to wear a face-covering on-premises – 15 • Person failed to comply with applicable physical distancing rule – 13 • Obstruct/Hinder Medical Officer of Health or Person Assisting Med Officer – 6 • Person failed to wear a face-covering on public transport – 2 • Person in control of premises failed to close as required – 1
