Live: Community transmission confirmed in NZ

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed new cases of Covid-19 outside self-isolation facilities.

Ardern has been joined by director general of health Ashley Bloomfield  at a press conference.

Bloomfield said there were four confirmed cases in one family acquired from an unknown source.

Six people were in the family, and three of them have tested positive. The other three tested negative.

It is expected to be about community transmission. Today had marked 102 days without transmission in the community.

New Zealand went into level 4 lockdown on March 25, and moved to level 3 on April on April 27. We moved into level 2 on May 13 and level 1 on June 9.

Earlier today, Bloomfield said there was one new Covid-19 in managed isolation - a man in his 20s who arrived in New Zealand on July 30 from Melbourne.

He said the man tested negative on day 3 but went on to test positive on day 12.

The man had been in managed isolation at the Grand Millennium and has now been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

There were 22 active cases all being treated in managed isolation facilities after testing detected the illness in returning Kiwis at the border.

It brought the total number of those who have had Covid-19 to 1220.

Bloomfield said work was already under way on planning a Covid-19 immunisation campaign, although a vaccine was yet to be developed.

"We are not sitting idle, we have work under way to look at how we could deliver that vaccine."

Earlier today two Christchurch rest homes went into partial lockdown after residents displayed flu-like symptoms.

Brookhaven Retirement Village in Woolston has reportedly tested eight of its residents and put them in isolation.

And the Village Palms Retirement Community in Shirley had advised family members in a letter that it was in lockdown after residents began displaying symptoms of a respiratory illness. Eight residents were displaying flu-like symptoms.

The Government ramped up its messaging last week despite the nation approached 100 days without community transmission.

Bloomfield confirmed masks could be mandatory in some situations if the country moved up alert levels. And there were also warnings about the likelihood of a "second wave" of infection.

"We all know, we can't afford to be complacent," Bloomfield said in a statement.

"We have seen overseas how quickly the virus can re-emerge and spread in places where it was previously under control, and we need to be prepared to quickly stamp out any future cases in New Zealand. Every person in the team of five million has a role to play in this."

National's deputy leader Gerry Brownlee said on Sunday the change in messaging was "very puzzling" and he called on the Government "come clean" about what it knew.

"People have made a big effort on this and they expect to get all the relative freedom," he said.

"None of us are complacent about it, I believe, it is something that is going to be with the world from this point on."

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