Police encouraged by alert level change response

The MOH announced a new community case on Sunday, linked to the existing Auckland cluster.

Police are thanking the public for their patience and cooperation on the first day of checkpoints across the Auckland region under Alert Level 3 restrictions.

While the rest of the country has moved to at Alert Level 2, police continue to work with partners to ensure there is only essential travel in and out of Tāmaki Makaurau.

Auckland shifted back to alert level three on Sunday morning following two new community Covid cases that could not be linked to existing community cases.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement at a briefing at 9pm Saturday night, saying the alert level changes would come in from 6am on Sunday and will be in place for seven days.

Following the level change announcement, police say they have observed traffic increasing throughout the day.

"Police ask that anyone travelling in the next few hours delays their travel, where possible," says a police spokesperson.

"Police report the public has been cooperative and understanding, we thank motorists for their patience.

"We are actively trying to ease the congestion as quickly as possible. Those who are stopped will be asked about their reason for travel."

The locations of the checkpoints are available on the police website –https://www.police.govt.nz/major-events/covid-19-novel-coronavirus

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health announced an additional community case on Sunday.

This case is linked to the Auckland cluster and was already in quarantine, says a statement from the Ministry of Health.

This person is being referred to as Case O and is a household contact of Cases I, J, K and L.

"Case O was transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility on 23 February as a precautionary measure," says the MOH.

"The person became symptomatic yesterday and returned a positive Covid-19 test on Sunday afternoon. This means that Case O has been in quarantine for their infectious period.

"As a result of the early precautionary measures carried out to contain potential Covid-19 spread from this household there are no new locations of interest and no risk to members of the public.

"Whole Genome Sequencing will be carried out to confirm a link between Case O and the other cases in the cluster."

Update on Case N

Preliminary Whole Genome Sequencing results for Case N confirm the case is similar to that of Case M and is linked to the current outbreak.

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