New Zealand's level-4 lockdown has been extended nationwide until 11:59pm on Tuesday after confirmation the Covid-19 outbreak has spread to Wellington.
The Government will decide on Monday - based on latest cases and information - whether to reduce levels or extend by region, the New Zealand Herald understands.
Asked if the Government would look at a region by region approach to whether lockdown would be extended when Cabinet met on Monday, Ardern said: "It is really just too soon to say."
What happened next would only become apparent once more testing results came in from around New Zealand.
Ardern said there was some good news but "there was still a lot we don't know".
Ardern said the time between now and Monday would allow the Government to make a better assessment about whether it had spread to other parts of New Zealand.
Because it was the Delta strain it was still too soon to draw any firm conclusions, because of the number of locations and because the spread of the virus among contacts was unknown.
On top of that the outbreak had spread beyond Auckland. There were hundreds of contacts outside of Auckland, including in the South Island.
The virus could spread to other parts of New Zealand in the coming days.
The New Zealand Herald earlier reported that it understood the 3pm announcement will see the extension of the level-4 lockdown. The nationwide lockdown will be extended to line up with Auckland and Coromandel next Tuesday - and a decision made then to reduce levels or extend by region.
Earlier today it was confirmed the Delta outbreak had ballooned to at least 31 community cases and threatened two of the country's biggest hospitals, with officials warning there would be more cases.
At the 3pm update Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield went over today's new cases, saying Auckland and Wellington public health teams were conducting interviews to get details on movements and locations of interest would be released as it became available.
So far the majority of close contacts were in Auckland, but some were dispersed across New Zealand.
There were locations of interest linked to the Wellington cases, including restaurants and petrol stations.
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PM's five key messages to NZ
Ardern's message to NZ was to please check locations of interest – if you were there at the time and date get tested.
Anyone with cold and flu symptoms should get a test, she said.
If you're a contact please stay home and isolate, she urged.
"Everyone else should stay at home and stick to their bubble."
"You must wear a mask at dairies and supermarkets - and when you leave your home generally"
Wash your hands and scan in when you visit an essential service, she said.
"Even though we all want to block out the memory of 2020, we have been here before and we know the elimination strategy works."
"Everyone needs to play their part."
Ardern said officials were calculating the number of contacts differently due to Delta being more contagious.
More than 2000 Auckland City Hospital workers had returned negative tests. An infected nurse had worked four shifts there.
Infected Air NZ crew member separate to cluster
Bloomfield said there are 31 current cases and that public health teams are now interviewing those infected in Auckland and Wellington.
The Air NZ cabin crew member who tested positive this week after a routine test was not linked to the 31 Auckland cases, but to three others in MIQ, he said. She was now being treated as border-related case.
Day five testing has been arranged for returnees who were in the Crowne Plaza Auckland on the same floor as the original case linked to the 31 community cases.
As of 2pm, 2363 people had been identified as contacts of this outbreak. This numberc excludes the central Auckland Church of Christ and Avondale College contacts.
"If you were at a location of interest then you should get a test and isolate from others," Bloomfield said.
Cabinet met today to make a decision on whether to extend the three-day level 4 lockdown the country plunged into at midnight on Tuesday.
Ardern said, on Tuesday, it was likely Auckland and the Coromandel, the areas where the first confirmed case had been, would be in level 4 for at least seven days.
Eleven new Covid cases, including three in Wellington, were announced this afternoon in a statement released by the Ministry of Health.
The three in Wellington had recently travelled to Auckland and visited a location of interest there.
The remaining eight were detected in Auckland.
Nineteen cases are now confirmed as part of the Auckland outbreak, with the remaining 12 under investigation to confirm the linkage to the outbreak. Initial assessment shows in most cases there is a plausible link, the statement said.
Of the 11 new community cases reported today, one person is in a family bubble with a case reported yesterday, two are in a family bubbles with a case reported on Wednesday and two of the cases we are reporting today are also in a family bubble together.
Wage subsidy applications open
Meanwhile, the Government has announced that businesses and self-employed people "significantly affected" by the level 4 lockdown can now apply for the wage subsidy.
"The Government has reactivated a number of business support measures to give certainty to businesses and workers and support jobs at this challenging time," Finance Minister Grant Robertson said.
"The Wage Subsidy August 2021 scheme is now open for online applications through MSD. It's available to any business in New Zealand that meets the criteria. You can apply to contribute to the wages of your employees, or yourself, if you are self-employed, over the next two-week period. By 2pm today more than 47,000 businesses and sole traders had applied for the subsidy."
"To qualify, your business must experience, or expect to experience, at least a 40 percent decline in revenue as a result of the move to Alert Level 4, as well as other eligibility criteria that businesses will be familiar with from last year," Robertson said.
"We've increased the Wage Subsidy rates to reflect wage cost increases – $600 a week for each full-time worker (20 hours a week or more) and $359 a week for part-time workers retained."
Goff on lockdown extension
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says extending the nationwide lockdown is a justified precaution.
"We all want to get back to life as normal as soon as possible, but the quickest way to do that is through an effective lockdown, he said.
"Until we know the extent of the spread and until the lockdown has been in effect long enough to stop transmission, level 4 restrictions are necessary."
2000 hospital workers test negative
More than 2000 Auckland City Hospital workers had returned negative tests. An infected nurse had worked four shifts there.
The North Shore Hospital patient who tested positive was a male in his late teens, Bloomfield said.
The North Shore patient presented last Tuesday with non-Covid symptoms and was looked after in the acute surgical department, Bloomfield said.
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Comments
What is the goal of these lockdowns? you cant prevent it from getting in forever. You cant say it's to prepare the health system or flatten the curve as we had a year to do that, you cant say it's to wait until people are vaccinated because we had months to do that, the vaccines arent perfect and not everyone will take it anyway. All the lockdowns are doing is delaying the inevitable while destroying the economy and peoples mental health.
It's just a short sighted band aid by an incompetent government that refuses to come to terms with the fact that we need to live with covid.
The goal of lockdown has been stated by the Govt and the Health Ministry, ad nauseum, in words of one syllable and is well known and understood to almost all NZers, except you, apparently. Every statement in your comment is either plain wrong, an "alternative" fact or misinformation.
This makes me believe your comment is solely politically motivated nonsense and it's lack of depth and general speciousness of the content suggests to me that you are copying from a National Party bullet point list that is provided to its members for use on online forums like this one.
As long as you maintain this failed tactic, driven by your incompetent leader, treating Kiwis as idiots, you are going to continue to fail in the polls.
Extended until next Tuesday and also says 'we need to test 5 days after contact to produce a correct result'... People infected 4 days ago are not on the radar yet and those who were infected today will not be able to tested until Tuesday afternoon.
Says one thing and then contradicts herself.
Jacinda's actions (results) are becoming more clear to the public. She's getting sloppy and the masses are catching on that she isn't exactly truthful and therefore a liar.
"...while destroying the economy and people's mental health..." Yes it's inevitable. But deaths are. Which one would you pick?