Covid 19 coronavirus: Police 105 phone line overwhelmed as people seek clarity over rule and report breachers

NZ Police are redirecting people to its website or the all of government Covid-19 website after its 105 non-emergency phone line was overwhelmed as people sought clarity over Covid rules - or to report possible breaches.

Police shared a message on various NZ Police regional Facebook pages saying the 105 line was experiencing high demand and redirecting people to use the 105 online service where possible.

A Police media spokesperson said NZ Police 105 non-emergency received 3746 calls on Sunday - approximately 1000 more calls than usual.

The higher than normal volume of calls were mostly Covid-19 related and followed the Government's announcement on Saturday night that Auckland would change to alert level 3 and the rest of the country would be at alert level 2 from 6am on Sunday.

People were seeking COVID-19 information about travelling home after the Six60 concert, travel permissions and child custody arrangements.

Some calls were to report a possible Covid-19 breach. A further 250 Covid-19 breach online forms were also submitted.

"Monday is our busiest day. To minimise waiting times we are proactively informing the public that they can report a non-emergency matter through our online form anytime, anywhere – www.police.govt.nz/105support."

Police were also reminding New Zealanders that the best source of information for NZ COVID-19 is www.covid19.govt.nz.

However, people still needing Police assistance in an emergency or if they were in danger should still call 111.

The new 105 number was launched in May 2019 to relieve pressure from the current 111 system.