Covid-19 controls tightened yesterday, as supermarkets started rationing, churches closed for worship and some universities and museums closed temporarily.
Countdown, which along with other supermarket operators has been confronted all week with householders panic buying staple foods, yesterday placed a temporary limit of two similar items per customer per shopping trip, both in-store and online.
Baby food (a limit of six per customer), fresh produce and serviced delicatessen items were exempted.
Countdown also reduced its opening hours.
From today, all outlets and online shopping services will trade from 9am to 8pm across the country.
Other chains have maintained their opening hours, although New World and Pak’nSave reissued pleas to shoppers to refrain from panic buying and to be considerate of other customers.
Otago and Southland have yet to join northern cities in closing public facilities. Yesterday, Auckland libraries, pools and recreation centres were closed for two weeks and facilities in other cities went into lockdown, as the number of Covid-19 cases in New Zealand surged by 11 to 39.
‘‘Auckland’s circumstances, because of their population size and density, are different from ours,’’ Dunedin City Council chief executive Sue Bidrose said.
‘‘They have a very serious concern that they have multiple cases, many people in isolation, and they simply are not able to do social distancing in their libraries, facilities.
‘‘They are closing for a couple of weeks while they see if they can work that through.’’
With the small number of Covid-19 cases in Dunedin, advice was that city facilities could remain open, Dr Bidrose said.
‘‘In line with everywhere else, we will be constantly reviewing that as our city’s circumstances arise.’’
Invercargill has cancelled library programmes; the Waitaki District Council yesterday restricted numbers at its aquatic centre to 100 and cancelled all library events and programmes.
The Ministry of Health yesterday confirmed all 150 people tested who had connections with a Logan Park High School pupil with Covid-19 had tested negative.
Those people all remain in self-isolation; the school is expected to reopen on Tuesday after a thorough clean.
National museum Te Papa Tongarewa closed its doors temporarily yesterday; Otago Museum said that its advice was that it did not yet need to do so.
‘‘We are starting to cancel public events and programmes,’’ director Ian Griffin said.
‘‘We have increased cleaning schedules, and have removed hand dryers in restrooms, replaced with hand towels.’’
The University of Auckland suspended teaching on all campuses next week, and the University of Otago announced that all first year classes, beginning with Health Studies, would move online in the course of next week.
‘‘Second-year papers and above which have more than 100 enrolments will then be prioritised to move online from the following week, commencing March 30, along with selected other papers,’’ vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne said.
‘‘These classes will be fully online, with no face-to-face classroom teaching.’’
Next week would affect more than 125 of the 850 on-campus papers at Otago’s three campuses, and more than 300 papers would have moved online by March 30, she said.
“We want to provide continuity of teaching for our students and are taking advice daily from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education on this.
‘‘If the situation changes, we will advise students, staff and other stakeholders as quickly as possible.”
No further Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the South yesterday, but health officials did release travel details for a Spanish tourist now recuperating in a comfortable condition in Lakes District Hospital.
The man was in Dunedin Railway Station from noon to 2pm on March 16, and in Lumsden from 6-7pm the following night.
Anyone who was in casual contact with the Spaniard was at low risk of contracting Covid-19, the Southern District Health Board said.
Details also emerged late in the day of five passengers and crew on two cruise ships who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 and who had visited Dunedin during their travels.
Ruby Princess, which visited Dunedin on March 12, has since had three Australian passengers and one crew member test positive for Covid-19.
One of yesterday’s confirmed Covid-19 cases, an Auckland man in his 60s, disembarked Celebrity Solstice at Port Chalmers on March 15 and returned separately to Auckland.
The 11 new cases announced yesterday were in Auckland (5), the Waikato (2) Wellington (2), Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury.
Both the Catholic and Anglican churches yesterday suspended Sunday church services, following the Government prohibiting indoor gatherings of more than 100 people.
‘‘We have made this decision prayerfully and with a sense of abundant caution and care for our people,’’ Anglican archbishops and bishops said in a combined statement.
Catholic bishops said due to the ongoing health crisis mass was suspended indefinitely.
A Community Based Assessment Centres would open in Queenstown next week, the SDHB said.
Facilities are already open in Dunedin and Invercargill, and others would open if demand required it, a spokeswoman said.
‘‘Patients should continue to call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 in the first instance.
‘‘Those with suspected Covid-19 symptoms will be directed to the CBAC.’’
The SDHB also said it had had 50 replies within 24 hours for people wanting to volunteer to help its pandemic prevention work.
‘‘The people who have responded as volunteers come from all over Southland, Central Otago and Dunedin.
‘‘They include nursing staff, allied health, student nurses, medical students and administrators.’’
— MIKE HOULAHAN Health reporter; Additional reporting: Emma Perry, Molly Houseman.
