These updates have now concluded for the evening, 1 NEWS will resume live updates tomorrow as a decision looms over whether Alert Levels will change. Any developments can be found on our webpage.
What we know so far:
- The total number of community cases in the outbreak is 21, this includes an international airline crew member who health officials do not believe is linked to the current outbreak.
- Eleven new community Covid-19 cases have emerged since Wednesday evening, all in Auckland.
- The community Delta outbreak in Auckland has been found to be a "close match" to a recent returnee from Sydney.
- There are a number of locations of interest which are continuously being updated on the Ministry of Health's website .
- Unsure what the rules are at level 4 ? You can visit the Government's official Covid website for all of the information.
- Cabinet will meet tomorrow at 1.00pm to discuss any potential change in Alert Levels, a press conference will be held at 3.00pm.
8.55pm - A student at Lynfield College in West Auckland has tested positive for Covid-19. A letter shown to 1 NEWS was sent to parents, caregivers and staff by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) this evening.
It was confirmed on Thursday night that a student at Lynfield College had contracted the virus, with all staff and students at the school considered close contacts.
The entire roll and staff from both schools must now isolate for 14 days.
The letter said the student was infectious when at school on August 16 and 17.
The Lynfield school is now the fourth education facility to report a case amongst its students and staff after tonight's Northcote College case, and after a teacher from Avondale College and an AUT student both tested positive on Wednesday.
7.55pm - A student at Northcote College has been confirmed as having Covid-19, with all staff and students at the school considered close contacts. The student attended school on Monday and Tuesday while infectious.
The entire school's roll and staff must now isolate for 14 days.
7.20pm - The Ministry of Health has released more locations of interest meaning numbers have climbed to almost 130 in Auckland. The locations include Dress Smart, Onehunga, Auckland, 1061 on Monday 16 August, 12.30 pm - 1.30 pm and PlaceMakers New Lynn, 17 Clark Street, New Lynn, Auckland, 0600 on Tuesday 17 August 9.00 am - 9.40 am.
6.53pm - Healthcare NZ's acting CEO, Josephine Gagan told 1 NEWS the organisation is planning to launch a vaccination programme for nurses due to the the private healthcare provider only having a 30 per cent vaccination uptake for its 7,000-strong frontline staff.
6.38pm - New Zealand epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely has provided expert analysis over how long New Zealand might be in lockdown.
Blakely studied the Covid outbreak in Victoria and spoke to 1 NEWS today. He said if no cases arise outside of Auckland and the Coromandel, he "wouldn't be surprised" if restrictions are eased across the rest of the country.
But he says it may take 10 days to two weeks for Auckland and the Coromandel to come out of lockdown, adding health officials would need to have three days without seeing a positive Covid case in the community whilst infectious.
He believes the biggest concerns are mystery cases where links are unknown and the lack of scanning-in behaviour.
Blakely says the Delta virus is spread quickly and also can affect children whereas last year's strain was less likely to do so.
6.30pm - Cook Island health officials are testing up to 1500 Kiwi visitors who arrived in Rarotonga since August 11.
Figures in the past 24 hours show up to 4,000 New Zealanders are holidaying in the Island nation. Some are choosing to come back, while others are happy to ride out lockdown in Rarotonga.
6.25pm - Covid tests in the Coromandel have returned negative results today.
Mass swabbing has been undertaken in the past two days, hundreds of people tested today along with 400 yesterday.
It comes as Case A visited the region last weekend and tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday this week.
6.20pm - There have been allegations retail outlets are breaching Level 4 rules and putting their staff at risk.
First Union has been contacted by some members who allegedly work at The Warehouse and Kmart. The Warehouse rejects the claims and Kmart hasn't responded to 1 NEWS' request for comment.
6.10pm - Essential workers in high risk categories, such as supermarket staff will be bumped up the queue for receiving a vaccination, the Government announced today. Supermarket staff comprise a 60,000-strong workforce, many of them young.
The Government is also looking at rolling out drive-through vaccination stations, a move supported by ACT leader David Seymour, who says the Government needs to start "innovating".
But the Prime Minister says drive-throughs are not the most efficient for all DHBs, saying some have decided to use other, alternate methods.
5.55pm - Former leader of the Public Party Billy Te Kahika has pleaded not guilty to charges of breaching Alert Level 4 lockdown restrictions on public gatherings yesterday.
Te Kahika and fellow activist, Vinny Eastwood were two of four people arrested as about 50 protesters stood outside TVNZ offices in Auckland yesterday.
Te Kahika and Eastwood both face two charges under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act and one charge under the Search and Surveillance Act.
Te Kahika pleaded not guilty and was bailed to appear back in the court in October.
It comes as police released a statement Thursday evening saying five arrests have been made today, three over a lockdown protest in Christchurch and two in the Far North for refusing to comply with the requirement to wear a face covering.
4.55pm - Several new locations of interest have been added to the growing Auckland list. This includes New World Mt Roskill and the Pascoes store in Glenfield Mall.
So far, over 100 locations of interest have been identified, some visited more than once. A new addition to the list - MELBA cafe in Hillsborough goes back to August 1.
The list of Coromandel locations of interest sits at 14.
A comprehensive website has been developed, detailing where these locations are and what measures to take.
4.50pm - The Prime Minister's Office has just announced a change to the timing of any review to current Alert Levels.
Cabinet will now meet at 1.00pm tomorrow to discuss Alert Levels and a press conference will be held at 3.00pm following this.
4.43pm - The Ministry of Health says yesterday, testing centres in Auckland had their busiest day since August last year.
Almost 16,000 community tests were performed across Auckland yesterday, with more than 6,000 at community testing centres and around 10,000 at general practice and urgent care clinics.
Nearly 3,000 swabs were taken across Waikato, with almost 600 from the Thames-Coromandel area.
The total number of Covid-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,584,336.
Yesterday, 12,885 tests were processed across New Zealand. Of these, 11,018 were processed in the North Island and a further 1,867 in the South Island.
4.17pm - Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran says the flight attendant who tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday was fully vaccinated.
The crew member's last duty was flight NZ90 from Narita to Auckland, which arrived on August 15.
Foran says she’s now in an Auckland MIQ facility and “doing very well”.
He says she is working closely with the Ministry of Health and the crew working with her on that flight “are in good shape” and are in the process of being tested.
Foran added that although over 80 per cent of frontline Air New Zealand staff are fully vaccinated, the "situation" with the Delta variant means it's "appropriate" a stronger position is taken by the airline.
"We want to what's right to keep the airline flowing and keep passengers safe and most importantly our crew safe," Foran says.
4.08pm - The Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft has welcomed the Government’s announcement today that the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine will be available for children and young people aged 12 to 15 years.
“Children have a right to the highest possible standard of health, under article 24 of the UN Children’s Convention,” Commissioner Becroft said. “At the moment, that includes being protected from this devastating virus.
“The best expert advice is that children and young people aged 12 to 15 should get the vaccine, in order to keep themselves safe, and to protect those around them.
“We urge parents to act responsibly and to emphasise the benefits to their children of being vaccinated against Covid-19. The Government has said vaccinations can be booked for 12 to 15-year- olds from tomorrow, and that children and young people this age can start receiving their jabs on September 1.”
Assistant Māori Commissioner Glenis Philip-Barbara said the vaccinations were particularly important for Māori and Pacific communities to improve their defence against the virus.
“Our communities are under-protected at the moment, and this is an opportunity not just to protect our mokopuna, but also to protect our whānau and wider community,” she said.
Commissioner Becroft added: “We also urge health practitioners to ensure that parents have access to good information ahead of them choosing to vaccinate their children."
3.40pm - The Ministry of Health has released more information on the 21 cases of Covid in the community.
All the cases are being transferred safely to an Auckland isolation facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE, the minsitry said in a statement.
Twelve cases are confirmed as part of the Auckland cluster, a further eight are currently being investigated and are as yet unlinked. One of the cases is an international airline crew member already in the public arena and is unlikely to be linked to the current community outbreak.
Public health officials are conducting interviews to establish how these new cases were infected and to determine further details of their movements.
Two of the community cases were taken to North Shore Hospital overnight on Wednesday, both are in a stable condition.
Crowne Plaza
A bubble of three people in the Crowne Plaza MIQ facility tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday. It was day 12 of their stay in MIQ.
"These returnees were in a room adjacent to the positive case from NSW under investigation as the index case in the current Auckland community cluster for period that he was at the Crowne Plaza," the ministry said.
As a precautionary measure, a hold on some departures at the MIQ Crown Plaza hotel in Auckland was put in place last night.
Returnees on the same floor who were scheduled to leave, are required to stay while Auckland public health officials investigate this matter, including reviewing CCTV footage and running whole genome sequencing on samples from the three new cases.
These new community cases are not unexpected and these numbers are expected to grow because of the large number of locations of interest, and the large numbers of people who were at these exposure events, the ministry said.
In addition there have been six cases of Covid recorded in MIQ facilities and a further two historical cases.
2.55pm - Ardern and Bloomfield are providing more detail on the link to current cases. They say genome sequencing has shown there is an "indistinguishable match" - roughly 90 per cent, between the community cases of Covid in New Zealand and a link to the NSW returnee.
Bloomfield says there are lots of genomes that are very similar but there is enough information to "chase down" the returnee.
2.48pm - Ardern is warning businesses they are only to open if they are part of the supply chain for essential goods and services and are able to work safely within Level 4 protocols.
She says any complaints of businesses operating outside of these restrictions will be investigated by MBIE and says employers who put people at risk will be highlighted at the 1.00pm briefing.
2.40pm - Bloomfield says there are no concerns over capacity levels at Intensive Care Units or the number of ventilators available should they be needed.
2.35pm -Ardern says she's aware those in the South Island may be frustrated but would much rather "you be included now than we miss something or someone and we end up in a lockdown that could have been prevented".
2.30pm - Ardern says mask-use for outdoor excercise in Alert Level 4 is not mandated.
"Our general advice, is when you go out wear a mask but we also want to be practical," she said, giving an example of someone who might go for a "strenuous run" would not wear a mask but would still need to socially distance.
2.20pm - Ardern says health officials are communicating with parents and young people over vaccinating the 12-15-year-old age bracket.
"I wouldn't have been part of a process in approving this unless I believed it was safe," she said - directing that message to parents who will have to provide consent for their children to have the vaccine.
2.10pm - Dr Bloomfield says updated modelling numbers which are based on the earliest (August 3 date) location of interest are now at a lower estimate - about 50 cases, rather than a higher number of around 120 which was estimated earlier.
2.05pm - Bloomfield says the Auckland Hospital location where a staff member tested positive is not a location of interest because it's a "very specific setting" where a set of actions and protocols are being put in place to reduce the risk of further infection - if there is any infection there.
He says it's also to identify if any staff or patients have been infected, so "it's not equivalent to our usual locations of interest".
2.00pm - Bloomfield says testing for Covid-19 is well-established across the country.
1.58pm - The Government has extended the initial 48 hour grace period by 24 hours to allow Air New Zealand to fly Kiwis home from Queenstown.
Air New Zealand will operate seven services from Queenstown – Auckland and Queenstown – Wellington to ensure that customers in the resort town can get home safely for the remainder of the lockdown period.
Queenstown – Wellington
NZ604
12:20pm departure
NZ608
4.00pm departure
Queenstown – Auckland
NZ6144
10:30am departure
NZ6146
1:05pm departure
NZ630
1:40pm departure
NZ6148
3:20pm departure
NZ628
8:00pm departure
“We estimate there is somewhere around 600 people requiring flights, so we are confident that the additional 700 seats tomorrow will ensure that there are options for those that need it. As always, we will continue to monitor the demand and adjust as needed," Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said in a statement.
1.54pm - Bloomfield says over this lockdown, a high degree of compliance from the public is evident. He says the Police Commissioner has also told him people have been "very compliant."
Ardern says there have been 684 online breach notifications have come through. She says there has been a "wide range" of breaches" reported.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, police said a third of breach notifications have been in the Tāmaki Makaurau area.
Of those reports, 322 were about a gathering, 320 about a business and 42 about an individual.
In the same period police have carried out over 2,500 tasks relating to Alert Level 4 restrictions, including reassurance visits to essential facilities, patrols, and checks following reports about people, businesses and gatherings potentially in breach.
Police say they will assess every notification received and follow up where required.
1.49pm - Ardern says she cannot give a definitive answer over how long the country will stay in lockdown but says it's encouraging that there is "a good strong sense" the virus has not been circulating in the community for long.
Bloomfield says the timeframes are reassuring but the focus is on controlling "further spread of the outbreak".
Ardern says cases always go up before they come down but says she will look to give people "a steer tomorrow" over how long lockdown may be for.
1.39pm - Ardern says Cabinet will meet on Friday at 1.00pm to discuss current alert levels. News of any changes would be announced at a 3.00pm press conference.
On Tuesday, Ardern said Auckland and Coromandel would be at Alert Level 4 for at least seven days, while the rest of the country would be at the alert level for at least three days, or until 11.59pm Friday.
The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield told Breakfast earlier Thursday his team was in the process of compiling data so it could advise Cabinet.
1.35pm - Bloomfield has reminded those who were at a location of interest that a Section 70 notice is in place, meaning those people legally have to self-isolate and be tested. A separate Section 70 notice applies to household contacts of those who have been at a location of interest. They also have to isolate until the original person of interest returns a negative test after day five.
He said almost 1.3 million people had accessed the Ministry of Health website, mainly to look for locations of interest.
1.32pm - Bloomfield says contact tracing being done in Auckland and the Coromandel has resulted in 360 individual contacts being identified.
1.30pm - The Pfizer vaccine will be made available to 12 to 15-year-olds from September 1. It had already been approved by New Zealand's medicine regulator, but was only signed off by Cabinet Ministers today.
"It is safe and it's the right thing to do," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
"This is an important next step."
It would be available to children in that age group from September 1, when eligibility to all of the Group 4 age cohorts opens up.
However, from tomorrow morning parents and caregivers from tomorrow can also book their children in the same time.
1.27pm - According to Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, there are 11 new community Covid-19 cases since Wednesday evening. This brings the total number of cases in this latest community outbreak to 21, including an Air New Zealand crew member, was deemed to be border-related and not connected.
Bloomfield said two of the cases have been transferred to North Shore Hospital. One person has "worsening symptoms", and the other has an underlying condition.
One person is in their 20s, the other person is in their 40s. Both are in a stable condition.
1.20pm - Ardern says the primary lines of investigation point to the Crowne Plaza MIQ facility where the returnee was originally based, staff at the Jet Park facility and other MIQ and border staff involved in that person’s arrival into New Zealand.
Ardern says Middlemore Hospital is not being investigated as the person who was infected was admitted on August 16, one day before lockdown and days after new cases became symptomatic.
1.10 pm - Following the confirmation Case A had the NSW Delta variant, it’s now confirmed following genome sequencing, the current community cases are a close match to a recent returnee from Sydney, who arrived on a managed Red Zone flight on August 7. That person had a day one test on August 8 and returned a positive result on August 9.
The person was transferred to the Jet Park quarantine facility in Auckland on the same day. That person was moved to Middlemore Hospital on August 16. Ardern says the cases in New Zealand “are most likely to have come from the traveller”.
Ardern called it a “significant development”. She says “we can be fairly certain how and why the virus entered the country”.
“Based on timelines there are minimal – possibly one or maybe two missing links between this returnee and cases in our current outbreak.”
1.05pm - The Prime Minister and Director General of Health are now providing an update on the latest developments.
12.58pm - Even more locations of interest have been added in Auckland. They include bus trips, another Countdown, a Bunnings, a Mitre 10, another Subway, a liquor store, a number of bars, and specific stores in Westfield Albany.
12.43pm - As we approach the 1pm press conference, people are reportedly waiting up to five hours to get tested at the Waipareira Trust's testing site in Henderson. The vaccination centre across the road, meanwhile, is "super quiet", with people in and out in 30 minutes.
12.27pm - Auckland's Sumthin Dumplin is listed as a location of interest, stretching back to August 3.
The Ministry of Health had this to say about it: "We understand that some people will find it concerning there is a location of interest more than two weeks old.
"However, as contact tracers interview Covid-19 cases and their close contacts about the places they’ve been, there will be further locations of interest.
"We are taking a precautionary approach to listing locations of interest, to ensure we track down as many people as possible who may have been exposed to Covid-19.
"Locations of interest are determined by when an individual reports first having had symptoms and including locations up to 48 hours before this time. It is not always possible to determine whether the reported symptoms are due to Covid-19 or not," it said in a statement to 1 NEWS.
12.21pm - Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles told 1 NEWS at Midday some of the locations of interest could be super spreader events.
"There could be plenty of cases out there that haven't come forward yet."
12.15pm - SkyCity's chief executive Michael Ahearne says 240 of its staff were working on the main casino gaming floor in the early hours of Saturday morning.
It is estimated about 1000 patrons were also on the gaming floor between 1.15am and 3am. These patrons have been advised to stay home, watch for symptoms and get tested, as they are close contacts.
The gaming floor, public lifts, handrails and back of house areas will be undergoing a deep clean, SkyCity said.
11.11am - Another two flights on top of the extra four Wednesday have been added to get stranded holidaymakers and others out of Queenstown.
11.07am - Seven new Auckland locations of interest have been added. They include two cinemas, another Countdown, KFC Takapuna and a Z service station.
11am - Police say there is "significant traffic congestion" near testing sites across Tāmaki Makaurau.
10.25am - Late Wednesday night, the Australian Government classified all flights originating in New Zealand as 'red zone' flights from August 18 to August 23. This will be reviewed Friday. All passengers on these flights now need to go into quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Australia.
9.14am - The heads of two cafés in the Coromandel named as locations of interest after Case A and his wife visited over the weekend described their shock to Breakfast Thursday morning. Umu's Josie Fraser and Woodturners' Blair Mattock are doing their best to keep positive.
9.00am - Two men, aged 49 and 36, are due to appear in the Auckland District Court Thursday after Wednesday's protest in the CBD .
They are both facing two charges under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 and one under the Search and Surveillance Act.
A 52-year-old woman is due to appear in the court on August 25, facing one charge under both acts.
7.48am - Fletcher Melvin, president of the Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce, says the island nation was "surprised" by the community outbreak in New Zealand, but acknowledged the country had been expecting it to happen. About 3000 Kiwis holidaying in the island nation are being tested.
7.36am - It appears testing sites in Auckland and the Coromandel will be busy again Thursday, with vehicles at the pop-up testing station in Narrow Neck queuing well before its 9am opening. Breakfast reporter Larissa Howie is once again stationed at the pop-up testing site in Narrow Neck.
7.26am - Director-General of Health has told Breakfast there "will have been more cases reported overnight". However, these numbers won't be reported until 1pm. He warned people to keep an eye on the list of locations of interest , particularly essential workers , as this is how the virus spread in New South Wales.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says essential workers could be a vector for Covid-19 transmission.
7.13am - Appearing on Breakfast, Covid-19 modelling expert Shaun Hendy said the move to Alert Level 4 lockdown was justified as it has broken a lot of chains of transmission. However, he said due to current modelling , the country was "talking weeks in lockdown at this stage".
6.58am - ESR chief scientist Brett Cowan says a billion litres of wastewater per day is being tested. He said the challenge is to look through this for the virus and there can be a million, million on the head of a pin. ESR carries out testing at more than 26 locations across the country.
6.45am - Avondale College is a location of interest. The school's gospel choir director, Seumanu Simon Matāfai , told Breakfast: "The virus is not bigger than us, we’re bigger than the virus. We’ve done it before and we can do it again."
6.38am - Vaccinations also resume Thursday for those who are eligible and already booked. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had earlier paused them.
6.29am - Australia's Northern Territory declared New Zealand a Covid-19 hotspot Wednesday, while Victoria declared our country a red zone under its travel permit system.
6.17am - It is also now mandatory for masks to be worn by those aged 12 and over at essential services including supermarkets, pharmacies and service stations.
6am - Recap: There are now 70 locations of interest, with the earliest location stretching back to August 3.
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