Covid 19 coronavirus: Northland police charge four with lockdown breaches

A senior sergeant is urging Northlanders to abide by level 3 requirements after four people were charged with breaching lockdown rules and reports others were treating level 3 like level zero.

Northland reached its sixteenth day with no new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, while the national total rose by two.

But director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the low numbers could not be taken for granted and people needed to follow alert level 3 rules – a message that has been reiterated by Northland police Senior Sergeant Pat Davis.

"I think people need to realise life hasn't changed a heck of a lot. Yes, there are more businesses open, but people need to realise the rules are there to keep us safe or we could go back to level 4 for a lot longer," he said.

Davis said, since Friday, four people had been charged with breaching lockdown rules. Three of those people were arrested on other matters.

He said there were also reports of "people deciding level 3 was like level zero", but largely Northlanders were well-behaved.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / File

Bloomfield said with the country being at alert level 3 for nearly a week now, everyone should be familiar with the rules, both around increased retail activity and social interactions.

"It's been concerning to see some behaviours continue into the weekend and ultimately, this could slow a move to level 2.

"Continuing to be vigilant will be key in supporting a move down to level 2 as soon as possible," he said.

A statement sent out yesterdayin place of the live media update, confirmed the two new cases of Covid-19 were linked to the St Margaret's Hospital and Rest Home cluster in Auckland, and both cases were household contacts of an employee at the rest home.

Of Northland's 28 cases, 24 have recovered. All eight confirmed or probable cases among Māori have now recovered.

There was no update on testing numbers in Northland but, from today,Northland District Health Board will be offering Covid-19 swabs to anyone who wants one - symptomatic or not - as a way of seeking out undetected cases as it moves to the next phase of its response.

Nationally, the total number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 is 1487. A total of 1266 people, or 85 per cent, have now recovered.

There were no additional deaths to report yesterday. Eight people remained in hospital, with none in ICU.

Meanwhile, there were 4634 tests completed on Saturday, bringing the total number of tests completed to 150,223.

There are still 16 significant clusters - three of these clusters are now considered closed as there is no longer transmission of the virus associated with them.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website