Covid-19 coronavirus: Kiwis advised not to spend lockdown at bach

Name: Focus Live: 40 new coronavirus cases, dairies could stay open in lockdown
Uploaded: 2020-03-24T13:16:15+13:00
Duration: 707 s
Description: There are 40 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in New Zealand today. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told reporters there were also three new probable cases. There were 155 cases of confirmed and probable cases, and he said the daily tally would now include probable cases.

By Jake McKee Cagney

NZ Herald·

24 Mar, 2020 03:02 AM2 mins to read

There are 40 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in New Zealand today. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told reporters there were also three new probable cases. There were 155 cases of confirmed and probable cases, and he said the daily tally would now include probable cases.

Mayors of hot-spot travel areas are warning against people escaping to their bach for the Covid-19 lockdown.

New Zealand will go into lock down from 11.59pm tomorrow night - initially for four weeks.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the simplest thing people could do to stop the spread of coronavirus was stay at home.

Taupō District mayor David Trewavas said 45 per cent of the district's housing is owned by out-of-towners.

He said the local hospital was classified as rural - meaning it did not have all the capabilities of a metropolitan hospital. "Anyone with pre-existing conditions coming in [to Taupō] - I would seriously reconsider that."

Trewavas said the district was coping so far, with coronavirus swabbing centres set up – but an influx of people could cause disruptions.

Thames-Coromandel District mayor Sandra Goudie said traffic on Coromandel Peninsula roads had been "prolific" for the last week. "The amount of people driving onto the peninsula has been quite substantial."

She said people had been driving across State Highway 1 to the eastern coast of the peninsula with trailers "packed down like it is part of that summer holiday vacation".

Goudie was concerned about freedom campers not wanting to stay in one place for four weeks – or hiding in the "lots of nooks and crannies on the peninsula".

She recommended anyone wanting to spend the lock down period in a camper van, or similar, should go home for the sake of contact tracing.

"If they don't go home, they need to be contained within a licensed campground and not just roaming around at will - putting the rest of us at risk ... everyone just has to hunker down."

Listings for fully furnished rentals on Trade Me-owned holidayhouses.co.nz had doubled compared to the same time last year. Trade Me Property spokesperson Aaron Clancy said it appeared investment property owners were looking to move short-term rentals into long-term as a more sustainable income source over the coming months.