The top of Northland will go into alert level 3 tonight after fears of undetected community transmission of Covid-19.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins made the announcement just after 5.30pm today with Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
Though Auckland is at the centre of the Delta outbreak with the majority of cases, the coronavirus has spread to neighbouring regions Northland and Waikato. There are also cases in Christchurch which originated in the North Island.
Northland is currently in alert level 2, having moved out of level 3 on October 19.
But Hipkins said despite extensive contact tracing, no epidemiological link had been found in two new cases in Taipa today.
The cases had not been near other locations where cases were, or come into contact with any other cases, and that meant there was a possibility of an undetected link in the chain of transmission, the minister said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was visiting Northland today as part of a vaccination drive. However, Hipkins said she was not in the area affected by the lockdown, as she was further south.
A boundary running through the centre of Hokianga Harbour to the Mangamuka junction on State Highway 1 to the SH10 Kaeo Bridge and East Bay will be in place. There will also be police presence.
Bloomfield said the boundary was set by the Prime Minister's Office in consultation with residents and local iwi.
Far North Mayor John Carter said the move up to level 3 was no surprise to residents in the area.
"The community are quite scared actually so the decision to put safety first, even though it will cause challenges for businesses in the interim, is the right way to go."
Carter admitted it was going to be tough for Far North residents and the support from the remainder of Northland would be key.
"Just be mindful of the fact this is a challenge for all of us. Be supportive, be kind, don't be angry or upset and give support where you can," he said.
"We have Covid fatigue which is going to make this difficult, but we will stand up and work together as a district and a region and get through this."
Carter urged Northlanders to stick with all the health measures - such as wearing masks, scanning QR codes, social distancing - to keep one another safe - but most importantly, get vaccinated.
"Far North leaders, iwi, business leaders, sporting leaders, local Government are all saying please, please get vaccinated."
Locals have been hearing the plea, as the last two to three days saw an "incredible" response to both vaccination and testing rates, Carter said.
Low level of vaccination
Extensive testing would be aimed at looking for any missing links to the cases. Using a more localised lockdown had been used in Waikato previously as well, Hipkins said.
He noted that Northland had a low level of vaccination - and that made the risk of an outbreak that much greater. At 79 per cent on first doses, it was the region which had the most doses still to go to get to 90 per cent.
Northland was still 17,120 doses short of reaching the 90 per cent target, Hipkins said, and if the region was sitting at 89 per cent vaccinated "we might be having a different conversation."
The Minister echoed Ardern's words that the outbreak could not stay contained in Auckland forever.
"It is the fact it is an unlinked case and there is no clear or even probable source of infection."
He said while a link was looked for, and checks to ensure there was no wider undetected transmission, the lockdown was needed. "There will be potentially missing links out there, potentially still infectious."
Parts of Northland were also more vulnerable, and there was more reliance on septic tanks which made other forms of surveillance, such as waste water testing, less effective, he said.
The two new cases had provided QR code records.
Bloomfield said there had been good use of the app by the case who had been out and about in Kaitaia, and there were good records of their movements. He said the only other contact who had tested positive so far was the first case's household contact.
"There was some debate about the need to increase the alert level, but the origin of these cases is unknown. We are still trying to eliminate the virus outside of Auckland so our advice was a short period at level 3 to allow for more testing."
Bloomfield said there had already been significant testing in Northland this morning and an "extra surge" would go in over the next few days. The district health board and iwi providers were already using mobile vaccination clinics.
Just over 1120 tests were done across Northland on Monday and 1161 vaccinations were given.
Hokianga and Kaitaia have fewer than half of the population with two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
There have been three confirmed locations of interest related to the Kaitaia cases. They are:
• Farmers, Kaitaia, on October 29, from 12.21 pm - 1.30 pm
• Bells Produce, Kaitaia, on October 30, from 11.55 am - 12.05 pm
• Awanui Hotel, on October 31, from 5.30 pm - 7.30 pm
If you were at any of these locations of interest at the relevant times you should self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms for 14 days after you were potentially exposed.
