'Repeated, deliberate and malicious spread of misinformation' was threatening to block a move to alert level 1, says Health Minister Chris Hipkins. Video / Pool
A popular central Auckland cafe where the Prime Minister met the city's mayor is one of three eateries alerted by health authorities after a person infected with Covid-19 visited.
And it's been revealed Jacinda Ardern was in the cafe less than 24 hours before the infected person.
The Ministry of Health has listed Crave Cafe in Morningside as a "location of interest" where a person, who later tested positive for the virus, had spent around six hours on Friday, September 4, between 9.30am and 3pm.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and author David Williams in Crave cafe last Thursday. Photo / Supplied
Today journalist David Williams said he spent 30 minutes interviewing Ardern for a long-running series on Crave customers, Under the Hood, in the cafe on September 3.
Williams said the pair wore masks for most of the encounter, barring a five-minute spell when they drank their coffee. The Prime Minister then stayed for a second interview, he said.
Knowing the pair had dodged a potentially dire situation was a reality check.
"It highlights the risk, " said Williams. "The infected person walks into a cafe where there are 50 people and then the Prime Minister walks into a cafe to do an interview and misses it by a day.
"It shows how fragile the current situation is," he said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff during a visit to Crave Cafe four days before a person infected with Covid was in the same eatery. Photo / Getty Images
Just four days earlier Ardern had met mayor Phil Goff in the popular Morningside Drive eatery. Both wore face masks throughout the top-level meeting to discuss the city's Covid recovery at the cafe Ardern calls her local.
Kreem Bake Cook, a cafe in Henderson, and Bricklane Restaurant and Bar in New Lynn have also been identified as locations of interest.
An infected person visited Kreem in the shop between 9.30am and 1pm on September 3.
The Ministry of Health has released the new list.
Bricklane Restaurant and Bar yesterday posted on Facebook that its premises had been temporarily closed for deep cleaning after an infected customer dined there last Wednesday between noon and 1.30pm.
The public health service said that as it was a public space all customers and staff should be considered casual contacts. There was no need to self-isolate.
Along with a Countdown store in LynnMall last Friday evening, a second supermarket in South Auckland has also been identified as location of interest.
An infected shopper has spent an hour at Pak'n Save Ormiston in Flat Bush at 11am on August 28.
The Ministry of Health has listed Crave Cafe in Morningside as a "location of interest".
It has also been revealed the senior St Dominic's Catholic College pupil, who tested positive for Covid-19 after going home from school with symptoms on Friday, had attended classes on Wednesday and Thursday.
She has been considered to be infectious on those days. Yesterday principals of surrounding schools asked parents to keep home children with siblings at the college as a precaution.
A child at nearby Henderson North School is in self-isolation after being identified as a close contact.
The health ministry has also alerted commuters who travelled between the city and North Shore on any of 20 Northern Express trips last Thursday and Friday to watch for symptoms after a bus driver tested positive for Covid.
I caught up with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the excellent Crave Cafe in Morningside today. It's great to see cafes...
The Ministry of Health says locations of interest identify public places, with anyone who visited the places during the relevant timeframes considered a casual contact with low risk of exposure.
The ministry says people are not required to self-isolate unless they start to feel unwell or develop Covid-19 symptoms.
But people who were in the same locations are asked to watch for symptoms over the coming fortnight and maintain stringent hand-washing hygiene.
If they get sick they are advised to call Healthline and stay home.
The locations of interest are rapidly increasing as Auckland's community cluster continues to grow.
New cases are emerging daily from the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship mini-cluster.
There are now 43 cases linked to the infectious group, with revelations the church met during lockdown and were skeptical about the need for Covid restrictions.
