New Plymouth's mayor is standing by the Government's decision not to move the city into alert level 3 - despite a visit from the family who later tested positive to Covid-19.
Neil Holdom told the Herald that the Ministry of Health's decision is based on the best information and it is leading the world in what it does.
"I think the minute that we discover that we've got community transmission, I suspect that that may be the trigger for a shift to level 3, which would be entirely appropriate."
Holdom said the focus was to make sure people who were in those high risk areas were tested and isolated until they know the results.
There are several locations of interest in Taranaki including the Amber Court Motel, Egmont National Park, Puke Ariki Library and Pizza Hutt.
The new active community cases reported on Sunday are a mother, father and daughter from Papatoetoe.
Details of the new cases were revealed at a Beehive press conference fronted by Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield on Sunday afternoon.
The father is a self-employed tradesman and the daughter is a high school student at Papatoetoe High School, which will be closed Monday and Tuesday.
Taranaki's accommodation and hospitality sector seem to have escaped much of the economic impacts of the virus, and the mayor said many businesses reported higher numbers than the previous year.
Taranaki Chamber of Commerce chief executive Arun Chaudhari said there will be cancellations of events, and accommodation bookings.
He said it will affect the region like it will the rest of the country, and whenever Auckland was in lockdown it affected the whole country.
The new community Covid cases have been identified as the dangerous UK variant of the virus and they have not been linked to any managed isolation or quarantine case, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today.
Holdom said there is a little nervousness in the community, particularly with some of their iwi leaders as Maori are often the most vulnerable to this kind of virus.
"And so there's a real concern because there are a lot of people moving around Waitangi Day and we've just got to protect their older people, those most vulnerable."
He urged Kiwis to focus on scanning in and hoped that people would snap out of being complacent with scanning.
Auckland moved to level 3 for at least three days at 11.59 last night, with employees asked to work from home, students urged to stay away from school and police setting up checkpoints at eight locations at the region's border overnight.
Officers are checking all vehicles arriving and leaving Auckland to ensure there is no non-essential travel. Alert level 2 is less restrictive. (The full list of rules are detailed below).
Ardern told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking today that the link to the British variant had led officials to think the virus might have come through airport transit or it had stemmed from an international airline crew member.
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RULES AT A GLANCE LEVEL 3: Auckland - Stay at home and work remotely if possible - Schools and daycare can open but parents encouraged to keep children home - Gatherings restricted to 10 people, but only for weddings and funerals - Travel restrictions with borders around Auckland - Public venues such as libraries, pools and playgrounds closed
LEVEL 2: Rest of New Zealand - People can still go to work - Schools and daycare remain open - Gatherings restricted to 100 people - Travel into Auckland restricted
