Covid-19 Update: No new cases overnight

Caryn Wilkinson Reporter from Community News

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says there have been no new coronavirus cases overnight.

Bloomfield said he was looking for a run of days of zero community cases to inform a decision on moving alert levels.

Auckland is now in its third day of alert level 3 lockdown.

A 21-year-old (Case M) and his mother (Case N) tested positive for the virus during the weekend, prompting the snap lockdown.

Initially it was unclear how Case M caught the virus.

But on Monday Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced undisclosed contact between Case M's mother and another mum involved in Auckland's February cluster.

They had gone for a walk during the region’s level 3 lockdown earlier this month.

Bloomfield said authorities "couldn't take any chances" with alert levels given there were "quite a few exposure events" connected to Case M.

He said there had been high infection rates in the families connected to the cluster and some casual exposure.

“We want to make sure there is not more of those, and we stamp it out.”

Bloomfield said Auckland was only a few days in from when Case M was most infectious, so people would need to “wait and see” if there was any more cases linked to him.

Although he suspected Case M “was not having a good time of it” in terms of backlash over breaching the rules, he said a “punitive approach” could be “counter-productive”.

“We can’t afford to give this virus an inch.”

*Please put NFP if you do not want your comments used by Stuff.