PRIME MINISTER’S ALERT LEVEL 4PM ANNOUNCEMENT
One month and 4 days into Alert Level 4 lockdown in Auckland, the PM this afternoon announced the Super City is to drop to Alert Level 3 at midnight tomorrow night. Auckland must stay there for at least two weeks. For the rest of NZ, they are to remain at Alert Level 2.
Aucklanders must keep bubbles tight, she says.
Update on northern Hauraki cases
September 20, 2021
The final household member of the northern Hauraki house where the remand prisoner stayed has now been tested and results are pending.
“An investigation into the epidemiological link (exact route of infection) is ongoing – our working hypothesis being that the individual was infected in Auckland after leaving prison, rather than by someone in the local community where he was staying,” the Ministry of Health said.
Further tests, including whole genome sequencing of the first close contacts, are due tomorrow.
The ongoing investigation from Auckland Regional Public Health is looking to establish epidemiological links to the wider Auckland outbreak, guided by the whole genome sequencing results as they become available.
The five further household members isolating at home returned negative results yesterday, giving us confidence that they have not been infectious in the community.
All three positive cases, and an accompanying adult caregiver, have been moved to a quarantine facility.
To date negative results have been returned from testing of close contacts among prison staff, other prisoners, police and court staff.
A pop-up testing centre in the northern Hauraki town of Wharekawa marae in Whakatīwai has been busy today testing locals. Waikato DHB reports 340 tests have been taken as of 2pm today.
