There are 29 new cases of Covid-19 since yesterday and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealanders have saved lives by staying at home over the past fortnight.
New Zealand won't be coming out of alert level 4 lockdown earlier than the full four weeks, despite promising signs, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
Ardern is giving a press conference in the Beehive in Wellington, updating the public on the latest decisions about the response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
On how long we'll stay in level 4 lockdown, Ardern said she didn't want New Zealand to be locked down "a minute more" than necessary.
But we won't be brought out of lockdown early, she said.
She didn't want the gains in the first half of the lockdown to be lost in the second half.
The four weeks would show where community transmission had happened.
We have positive signs, but Ardern said "we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves".
Surveillance testing would start for the "latter half of the lockdown".
A total of 876,000 people had shared in $5.3 billion paid out through the wage subsidy scheme which the Prime Minister said was extraordinary given it's only existed a few weeks.
Between $8 and $12 billion will eventually be paid out through the scheme, the Treasury estimates.
A searchable database will be available shortly for employees to see if their workplace has applied for it.
Ardern said she was looking at the possibility of taking a pay cut in light of the pandemic.
"I wouldn't rule that out," she said.
Ardern is paid $471,000 a year and she and other ministers are acutely aware of the financial issues many New Zealanders now faced.
Ardern said she knew there were people feeling stressed, nervous and anxious during the lockdown.
Campaigns and resources will be released tomorrow to help Kiwis cope with the mental health impacts of Covid-19 and the lockdown.
Today there were 67 cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 1106.
On digital solutions for contact-tracing, she said "no one wants to reinvent the wheel" and the Government was looking to other countries, like Singapore, which used it with success.
But no app compared to the interrogation which a human was able to do, she said.
The Government was having to design a means of sentinel testing, or random testing, as fewer people were presenting to their GPs.
On butchers, bakers and greengrocers, they're not allowed to open their shops but can operate online.
"It is ultimately up to those MPs to make those decisions."
On the RNZ/TVNZ merger, Ardern said the pandemic showed how important it was for people to access information but the fact that advertising revenue was diluted. She expected to "expedite" this area.
On the Sylvia Park landlord asking for full rent, Ardern asked for compassion.
She said the Government had been looking more widely at rent issues.
The tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny are both deemed to be essential workers but Ardern said children should know the Easter Bunny might be a bit busy this year and might not be able to get every house.
On quarantining at the border, Ardern said they had to ensure any change was sustainable long-term and that was being worked through.
Ardern said it would be "absolutely wrong" to ask for Health Minister David Clark's resignation after he drove to mountain bike on a trail in Wellington despite lockdown guidelines banning the risky activity.
The last patients from the Whakaari/White Island eruption have been discharged from the National Burns Centre at Middlemore, she said.
She thanked the staff at Middlemore and other health care workers across New Zealand involved in the response to the eruption.
"They do incredible work - very, very difficult work."
On Cyclone Harold, she said it was concerning and looked like it was coming into the Pacific with considerable force and the Defence Force was at the ready and Covid-19 didn't change that.
