PM Jacinda Ardern and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield this afternoon gave an update on the three Valentine's Day cases, all of which are within one family.
Teachers at Papatoetoe High School have all tested negative for Covid-19 so far, in a further hopeful sign for the latest community outbreak that has sparked an Auckland-wide lockdown.
School principal Vaughan Couillault said three of the five teachers who are considered "close contacts" of the Year 9 student who tested positive for the virus at the weekend have told him they have tested negative.
The other two have not yet told him their test results.
Couillault himself, all of his senior management team and all other staff who have told him of their results have all tested negative, and he has not heard of any students or family members who have tested positive apart from the initial student and her parents.
"At this stage I have no information about any positive test results," he said.
The Ministry of Health reported no new community cases in New Zealand yesterday, but ministry head Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the next few days would be crucial given the numbers of people being tested this week.
Couillault does not have figures on how many teachers, students and family members were tested for the virus at the school yesterday but said it was "multiple hundreds".
A new pop-up testing centre has opened this morning at Kohuora Park in Station Rd, Papatoetoe, where six cars were waiting at 8.30am, half an hour before opening.
Staff preparing the testing centre at Kohuora Park, Papatoetoe, this morning. Photo / Michael Craig
Testing centres are also operating at the Whānau Ora community clinic at 25 Druces Rd, Wiri; Ōtara town centre; Botany testing centre at 292A Botany Rd, Golflands; Takanini testing centre at 106 Great South Rd, Takanini; Balmoral testing centre at 182 Balmoral Rd, Mt Eden; Tōtara Health Services, McCrae Way, New Lynn; Waipareira Trust at the corner of Edsel Rd and Catherine St, Henderson; and Northcote testing centre at 16-18 College Rd, Northcote.
Couillault said the mood in the queues at the high school was "as upbeat as can be, given the circumstances".
Many brought lunch with them yesterday anticipating a long wait. A Sylvia Park catering company distributed free sandwiches that had been prepared for a function that had to be cancelled because of the lockdown.
"The team from Auckland Regional Public Health Services brought in water and fruit and distributed that up and down the queue," Couillault said.
"But most people knew they would have to wait. There were picnics in the car and all sorts of things, people were very well prepared."
