Some Māori leaders are still pushing ahead with plans to create roadblocks and checkpoints on their tribal boundaries in a bid to protect their communities from the spread of coronavirus.
It comes as the Government today escalated the coronavirus alert level to level three, with level four to follow in the next 48 hours.
"Moving to level three, then four, will place the most significant restrictions on our people in modern history, but they are a necessary sacrifice to save lives," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said earlier.
Level four will see all non-essential businesses have their doors closed and most New Zealanders in self-isolation.
New Zealand currently has 102 cases of coronavirus, after a further 36 people tested positive for the fast-spreading respiratory illness.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says there are 36 new cases, bringing the total to 102.
Kaitaia, a gateway to the Far North, will be closed off by the community in response to the pandemic.
"Thousands of tourists are running around loose in the Tai Tokerau - that's not good enough. We want them out of our territory," community organiser Hone Harawira said.
Mr Harawira is organising checkpoints in the north targeting tourists, who will be told to turn around back to Auckland.
“Our hospitals, our doctors, what testing equipment we have, is severely limited anyway. We want those resources to be made available to the people of the Far North - Māori and Pākehā," he said.
The PM says we need to act now or risk further, dramatic increases in Covid-19 spread.
“I reckon anything that is slowing down the virus is all good,” one person said.
"If we’re looking at what's happening in Italy. I mean, thousands of people are dying, and its overtaken what happened in China, so it’s not a crazy thought,” another person said.
“People shouldn't panic,” another added.
From Wednesday, Whānau ā Apanui from the eastern Bay of Plenty said they will have a manned border patrol at both ends of its tribal area from Hawai to Potaka.
Meanwhile in Hick’s Bay, a Ngāti Porou community group will also be stopping tourists from entering.
“The Ngāti Porou community are one of the more vulnerable communities in the country,” organiser Tina Ngata said.
“We are six times more likely to die from a preventable illness. Many of them are the same chronic illnesses that create complications if you contract Covid-19.”
Jacinda Ardern told the public to ‘support others’ after she announced the Covid-19 alert level will raise to level four in 48 hours.
“We have near on 200 vulnerable pakeke here on the coast, and the cost of death for our iwi will be catastrophic,” Te Whānau ā Apanui iwi leader Rawiri Waititi added.
Tāmaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare expressed support for Te Whanau a Apanui and other iwi looking to enforce roadblocks.
“I support what Te Whānau ā Apanui are doing as well as other areas that are looking to isolate their communities to keep them safe,” he told TVNZ’s Marae.
In a statement, police said they will work with iwi to protect the community’s most vulnerable, and no one has set out to establish illegal roadblocks.
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