Police detail how they have been cracking down on those not following the Level 4 restrictions around Auckland. Video / Police
After ushering New Zealand into historic lockdown, Government leaders will now clamp down on anyone looking to take advantage of the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis.
After the first day of lockdown in New Zealand - and despite most people following rules and recommendations - the message from authorities became sterner.
• If you continue to breach the lockdown rules that's obstruction of police, says Police Commissioner Mike Bush.
• If you don't pass on the wage subsidy scheme on to your staff that's fraud, says Finance Minister Grant Robertson.
• If you're a landlord and you unfairly threaten your tenant, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wants your name.
• And if you don't play your part and stay home to break the chain of Covid-19, lives could be lost, says Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
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After just 48 hours' notice of nationwide lockdown, New Zealand yesterday woke up to quiet streets, empty motorways and teddy bears in windows.
Bush said most Kiwis were complying with the stay-home orders, but warned police wouldn't hesitate to put people into custody who continuously broke the rules, so they could think about the "consequences of their actions".
If it came to it, police could charge truants under various laws including obstructing police.
"Stay home to stay safe. If we don't comply, the consequence of that is people will die," Bush said.
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Stricter procedures at the border were in force and of the 360 who flew into Auckland Airport yesterday morning, almost half were quarantined for being symptomatic or not having a solid plan for self-isolation.
Worldwide the death toll of the Covid-19 pandemic yesterday topped 21,000 with more than 471,000 infected - Prince Charles now counted among them.
In New Zealand, the total number of cases reached 283, with 78 new cases confirmed yesterday.
The majority of cases were still linked to overseas travel or being a close contact of another confirmed case.
But there were several clusters of suspected community transmission, including Marist College in Auckland, the World Hereford cattle conference in Queenstown, a wedding in Wellington, a contact with the Ruby Princess cruise ship in Hawkes Bay and a rest home in Hamilton.
Seven people were in hospital with Covid-19, all in a stable condition, while 27 Kiwis have recovered from the virus.
Bloomfield said confirmed Covid-19 cases could peak in the thousands but now New Zealand was in lockdown, he hoped the turnaround point would be in 10 days.
Everyone was hoping New Zealand could escape the pandemic without a single death and our best chance of that happening was to stay home, he said.
Bloomfield also announced that as a precaution and due to stockpiling, pharmacists would be limited to providing only one month's supply of prescribed medicines, or three months for the supply of oral contraceptives.
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Pharmacists would still be able to make exceptions to provide additional amounts where people live remotely or for individuals with a disability.
And an extra $27 million was put into social services to help society's most vulnerable cope, especially those working with domestic violence victims which are expected to come under extra pressure with people confined to their homes.
The approach of the carrot first, but the stick if needed was a common theme among the Covid-19 leaders yesterday.
Robertson urged every business to try to keep their staff employed throughout the crisis and said that's why the wage subsidy scheme was in place.
About $1.54b had already been paid out for 244,887 workers; 72,913 applications had been paid out, while a further 111,898 had been approved and were about to be paid, and 47,434 were being processed.
It was open to almost every business, sole trader and contractor but they had to do it honestly, Robertson said.
When a business made an application to the scheme, they signed a declaration that they would make "best endeavours" to retain their employees and top up their salaries to 80 per cent.
If a business was forced to let its staff go during those 12 weeks, they had to keep paying their fulltime staff $585 a week or $350 for part-time staff for that period, or refund the money to the Government.
Robertson said that was in contradiction of a new law which states a tenant can only be evicted if they don't pay rent for 60 days, and Quinovic had now been informed of this.
He said there had also been feedback from the business community about commercial landlords being inflexible about rent payments, and he urged those landlords to talk to their tenants.
The telling-offs were extended to stores that think they can stay open without the essential services letter from the Government.
Despite the lockdown order, two Mad Butcher stores were open in Auckland yesterday which didn't impress the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
"Butcher shops are not classified as essential. What they supply can largely also be purchased at supermarkets.
"This approach has been taken to prevent community transmission and to ensure people limit movement to their suburbs," a spokeswoman said.
"We need as many businesses as possible to close to slow the spread of the virus."
Ignoring the lockdown order could incur a $4000 fine or incur a three to six months' jail term.
Ardern, who announced former Air New Zealand boss Rob Fyfe would join the lockdown taskforce to co-ordinate the private sector, said they were also keeping a very close eye on allegations of price gouging.
She told media supermarkets had given their assurance it wasn't happening and had been able to provide explanations for specific examples.
"That is the effort we are going to, to protect consumers.
