Scroll down for a recap our live updates on day 13 of the nationwide Alert Level 4 lockdown. Stay up to date with all developments on the 1 NEWS website and our Facebook page .
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The whole country remains at Alert Level 4. The country south of the Auckland boundary will move to Alert Level 3 at 11.59pm on Tuesday, August 31. Northland will move to Level 3 from 11.59pm on Thursday. Auckland will remain at Alert Level 4 for another two weeks.
- A press conference will be held at 4pm today, where Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will reveal Cabinet's decision on Auckland and Northland. You can watch live here at 1NEWS.co.nz and on TVNZ 1.
- There are 53 new Covid-19 cases to report in the community today, all of which are in Auckland. It brings the total number of cases associated with the current outbreak to 562.
- The number of locations of interest continues to be updated once every two hours.
LIVE UPDATES
8.55pm: Two Auckland HelloFresh employees have tested positive for Covid-19, disrupting some food deliveries to customers.
8.24pm: Are all Covid variants made equal? Seven Sharp takes a look at what makes the Delta variant so nasty.
Not all Covid-19 variants are created equal.
8.18pm: All personnel connected with the Royal New Zealand Navy accommodation facility at Narrow Neck, in Auckland's Devonport, have tested negative for Covid-19 following a positive wastewater test last week.
The negative tests on the 64 personnel - consisting of 56 New Zealand Defence Force personnel and eight contractors who either live at or who have visited the site - were confirmed today, the NZDF said tonight in a statement.
8.04pm: Auckland’s Big Bear has made a return to lift Kiwis' spirits ahead of another two weeks in Level 4.
He was introduced during last year’s lockdown.
7.59pm: National’s Covid-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop says the Labour Government has recklessly delayed vaccine shipments to New Zealand, putting the health and freedom of all New Zealanders at risk.
"Because the Government unbelievably pushed back our vaccine delivery, we now risk running out of vaccines," Bishop said.
"It’s great that Kiwis have been showing enthusiasm to go and get vaccinated, the Government should be matching that enthusiasm by encouraging Kiwis to get the jab, not calling for a little less demand, as well as making sure we have enough supply."
It comes after it was revealed that Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins had asked Pfizer in June to push back doses scheduled to arrive in September to instead arrive in October and November.
7.41pm: Three people have been arrested after proactive Covid compliance vehicle stops uncovered firearms, cash and drugs in Waikato, Detective Inspector Daryl Smith said in a statement.
A 38-year-old man was charged after the driver of a vehicle stopped by police last Friday was found to be disqualified. After being arrested he was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, point bags, cash and drug paraphernalia.
Meanwhile, a 33-year-old man was arrested following reports of a motorcycle being driven erratically in Hamilton. The rider became aggressive and resisted arrest.
He was found to have a large amount of cash together with a quantity of methamphetamine and LSD on him.
Both men are linked to local gangs.
A third man, 30, was arrested after driving onto private property while under the influence of drugs and refused to leave in Tahuna. While moving the vehicle off the property, police located a loaded shotgun containing three rounds of ammunition.
A further 16 rounds were found and seized, while a clandestine mobile methamphetamine lab was located in the boot of the vehicle.
7.36pm: Writer and counsellor John Cowan has shared some tips with Seven Sharp on how to get through lockdown cabin fever.
Some families find riding out Alert Level 4 together tougher than others.
6.50pm: Some businesses are underpaying their staff during the lockdown, and First Union says it expects it to continue in Auckland and Northland.
Northland will drop to Level 3 on Thursday, while Auckland will remain under Level 4 for at least another two weeks.
6.14pm: Anyone struggling has been urged to contact the Ministry of Social Development.
People neeing help accessing food but cannot leave their homes to get it can contact Civil Defence. A list of food hubs can be found on the New Zealand Food Network's website.
6.06pm: The country is seeing an increase in demand for food parcels this lockdown.
The Supreme Sikh Society's Daljit Singh told 1 NEWS the number of people turning up for help has been "at least three times higher than last year".
Hundreds queued today at a South Auckland temple which has already distributed more than 4000 food packs.
Te Papapa preschool's Liz Ferris said around half of the families were seeking support last year, but this year has seen it increase to 95 per cent.
Charity KidsCan is now appealing for donations to help send out 2500 food parcels.
5.43pm: A red flight from Sydney on Sunday, September 5 has now been scheduled to bring back people who qualify for an emergency allocation of an MIQ voucher, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment said in a statement.
People in Australia who have already applied and were granted an emergency allocation have been advised by MIQ that they are eligible and are being contacted to arrange ticketing for the flight, MBIE said.
Emergency allocations of MIQ vouchers are still available for the September 5 flight from Sydney. Applications close at 5pm (3pm AEST) on Thursday, September 2.
5.37pm: Auckland Business Chamber CEO Michael Barnett is calling for employers to receive a weekly support package to cover recurring costs amid the announcement of another two weeks of lockdown for the city.
"Auckland as the gateway city is bearing a greater burden of costs than the rest of New Zealand," he said. "Overheads go far beyond wage bills and must be paid, but reserves are low and confidence is shaken with another fortnight in Level 4."
An online petition for a weekly subsidy can be found here.
5.23pm: The Met Apartments in Auckland Central have been added to the list of locations of interest this afternoon.
5.18pm: Ruapehu mayor Don Cameron has welcomed Ruapehu's move to Level 3 with most of the country on Tuesday, but says the public need to remain disciplined in adhering to the rules.
"The increased speed and ability of the Delta virus to make its way from person to person and spread means this is not the time to think we are in the clear and take unnecessary risks," he said.
"The key message remains that you should continue to stay at home and only venture out locally for permitted reasons and follow the Level 3 rules when you do."
5.13pm: Auckland Transport (AT) and Mayor Phil Goff are shocked at the spate of attacks against essential workers, including an assault on a bus driver over the weekend.
There have been 16 reported incidents involving abuse or aggression towards Auckland’s train, bus, ferry and security staff amid the lockdown, Auckland Transport said in a media release.
AT chief executive Shane Ellison called the increasing number of attacks "a disgrace".
"Our bus drivers and other essential workers are showing enormous courage supporting Aucklanders," he said. "It’s just unacceptable that anyone should be attacked while at work at any time - let alone now."
5.10pm: The 2021 World of Wearable Art Awards Show, which was due to take place from September 30 to October 17, has been postponed due to Covid-19.
5.06pm: ACT leader David Seymour says Ardern's "extraordinary claim" of there being 840,000 Pfizer doses in the country "are impossible to reconcile with all other public claims".
"Taking the Ministry of Health’s numbers, there would only be 241,000 doses remaining in New Zealand now," he said.
"It’s difficult to avoid the suspicion that she’s just making it up ... Either the Ministry of Health, Chris Hipkins, or Jacinda Ardern have got the numbers wrong.
"New Zealanders deserve a Government that tells the truth about the people’s assets."
5pm: Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai told 1 NEWS she had "mixed emotions" following this afternoon's announcement that Northland would be moving to Alert Level 3 from Thursday.
"Positive that there is hope that we will be at the same alert level from Friday, combined with frustration that we couldn’t be there along with the rest of New Zealand," she said.
Mai also issued a reminder for locals to remember to be tidy Kiwis.
"Alert Level 3 has been described as Alert Level 4 with takeaways, so I ask that people who get their takeaways do the right thing with the wrappings – the reduction of litter has been very obvious during lockdown."
4.56pm: Coster said while there were lower traffic volumes at checkpoints across the country, officers were provided a range of "creative reasons" for non-essential and long-distance travel.
They included: needing to fix a shower, buying a puppy, delivering fish to a friend, getting “better-quality meat”, and going for a Sunday drive.
Meanwhile, a number of motorists were turned away yesterday while attempting to travel to Pāuatahanui Inlet to see a pod of visiting orca.
4.52pm: Police are pleased with the country's overall response to Level 4 restrictions over the weekend, but warned that now is not the time to throw caution to the wind or take unnecessary risks.
"Police will not tolerate behaviour that deliberately jeopardises everyone’s efforts to date," Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said.
"We all know the rules by now so the public can expect Police to move from education through to enforcement more quickly in these circumstances."
Coster said examples of breaches over the weekend included a report of poachers on farmland in Totara Flat, in Grey District.
4.50pm: Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says that most Aucklanders, while not liking the extension of Alert Level 4 in the city, would understand the necessity for it.
"We all want to get back to life as normal as quickly as possible, but for that to happen the lockdown has to stay in place until the spread of the virus has been suppressed," he said in a statement.
4.46pm: What you need to know ahead of most of the country's move down to Level 3 at 11.59pm on Tuesday.
4.37pm: The woman who died days after receiving the Pfizer vaccine was in her 50s, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
4.35pm: She said it's "too soon to say" if the country has reached its peak in Covid cases.
4.29pm: The Prime Minister said "contrary to reporting, we are not running out of vaccines".
She said while there has been an increase in demand, "our vaccination programme has risen to the challenge".
4.25pm: She reiterated that the shift in alert levels "does not mean freedom" for most of the country later this week.
"It means caution; it means staying in your bubble; it means distance; it means contactless transactions."
4.23pm: Ardern said without the snap lockdown, some modellers estimated that the country would have seen around 550 new cases today.
4.18pm: Auckland will remain at Level 4 for another two weeks. Cabinet will meet again on Monday, September 13 to review "the next steps for Auckland".
"I know everyone in Auckland knows we are just not there yet. We are making progress, though," Ardern said.
"The sacrifice everyone is making is incredibly important and it is making a difference."
Jacinda Ardern updated NZ’s alert level settings on August 30, including confirming the rest of NZ will move late tomorrow.
4.16pm: Northland's alert level will be lowered to Level 3 on Thursday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced.
4.12pm: Cabinet has today confirmed that the alert level change for the country south of the Auckland boundary will take place at 11.59pm on Tuesday.
The change in settings will remain in place for one week, before being reviewed on Monday, September 6.
4.05pm: Dr Ashley Bloomfield told reporters in a post-Cabinet press conference that today's Covid case numbers is "an encouraging sign".
He said 52 per cent of new cases recorded yesterday are household contacts of existing cases, indicating a high rate of household transmission.
Of yesterday's new cases, 72 per cent did not result in any new exposure events. The remaining 28 per cent were infectious while in the community.
3.38pm: Judith Collins says the "best thing is for us to have a form of actual Parliament sitting", while the second best would be an Epidemic Response Committee.
"We've said to them, 'The epidemic response committee is where we think we get the scrutiny without having to come into Parliament so we can all be home and zooming in'," she said.
"The Government has rejected - flat out rejected - any suggestion of that, so don't ever think that they've offered a deal."
3.36pm: A tent used to swab people for Covid-19 has been stolen from a doctors surgery in the Bay of Plenty over the weekend. Read the full story here.
3.27pm: National leader Judith Collins told reporters this afternoon that the party will be questioning Government on the vaccine supply and its rollout when Parliament returns tomorrow.
2.46pm: Air New Zealand says it's been advised by the Government that additional MIQ space will now be used "for emergency allocation only".
MIQ spaces will no longer be available for booking by the general public.
2.35pm: Three new locations have been added to the list of locations of interest.
They are Headquarters Bar and Elliott Stables in Auckland Central, and Tasi Market in Massey.
2.04pm: Families in the Novotel Ellerslie MIQ facility in Auckland say they have been forced to drink water from a bathroom tap, next to a toilet, after being asked to pay for extra water bottles.
In messages sighted by TVNZ, they told a relative they had called reception and asked for water but were told they would only get a 600ml bottle of water with their dinner meal and if they wanted extra water, they would have to pay for it or order online from the nearest Countdown, to be delivered to the Novotel facility.
2.02pm: The Green Party says it will not attend Parliament while Wellington is at Alert Level 4 this week.
"Parliament could be sitting virtually like Select Committees have been. There is no good reason for MPs to travel right now, putting our communities at risk," co-leader Marama Davidson said.
"By blocking the ability for Parliament to meet remotely, National and ACT are selfishly choosing to risk the lives of our whānau and communities for political posturing."
1.5pm: The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners says the number of people vaccinated over the past week shows how committed the country is to fighting Covid-19.
"The numbers we are seeing each day is a great sign that people are serious about protecting themselves, and others, against Covid-19 but we need to keep this up," medical director Dr Bryan Betty said.
Yesterday 47,897 vaccines were administered, of which 36,476 were first doses and 11,421 were second doses - a record for a Sunday, the Health Ministry said.
More than 3.33 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered as of 11.59pm yesterday. Of these, 2.17 million are first doses and more than 1.16 million are second doses.
1.45pm: There are 522 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically-linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 42 for which links are yet to be fully established, the Ministry said.
There are currently seven epidemiologically-linked sub-clusters identified within this outbreak. The two largest clusters are the Birkdale Social Network cluster with 79 confirmed cases, and the Māngere church cluster with 280 confirmed cases.
1.36pm: Meanwhile, six people who were in the Crowne Plaza lobby at the same time as the earliest identified case in the outbreak have all returned negative day 12 test results.
1.34pm: Whole genome sequencing on samples taken from around 345 community cases has determined they are all genomically linked to the current outbreak.
1.25pm: Of the current cases in the community, 37 cases are in hospital – 32 are in a stable condition on a ward and five cases are in a stable condition in the ICU. Two cases are in North Shore Hospital, 20 are in Middlemore Hospital, 14 are in Auckland City Hospital, and one is in Wellington Regional Hospital.
Meanwhile, two community cases in Auckland have since recovered.
1.20pm: There are 53 new Covid-19 cases associated with the current Delta outbreak to report in the community today.
Of that number, all of today's new cases are in Auckland. It brings the total number of community cases to 547 in Auckland and 15 in Wellington, the Health Ministry said today in a statement.
It brings the total number of active cases in the community outbreak to 562.
1.15pm: ANZ will re-open 64 branches on Tuesdays and Thursdays with limited hours and tight Covid-19 controls in place from this week after being closed since the start of Alert Level 4.
Essential services will include simple withdrawals and deposits, business banking which cannot be done using Fast Deposit, issuing replacement EFTPOS cards, and assisting vulnerable customers with setting up phone or internet banking, ANZ said today in a press release.
12.43pm: The Covid-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board (CV-ISMB) has advised the Ministry of Health to ensure that healthcare professionals and consumers remain vigilant after a woman died following her Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination.
"The CV-ISMB has considered that the woman’s death was due to myocarditis, which is known to be a rare side effect of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine," the Health Ministry said today in a press release.
This is the first case in the country where a death in the days following vaccination has been linked to the Pfizer vaccine.
The case has been referred to the Coroner. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
12.25pm: Just one new location of interest to note from Midday: Newtown Pharmacy Sport and Health on Auckland's K'Rd, between 3.15pm and 3.30pm on Friday.
12pm: KidsCan is aiming to deliver 2500 food parcels to families in hardship in Auckland in Wellington, that have been hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak. It's asking people to donate $19 if they can at www.19for19.org.nz.
11.45am: In lighter news, Clarke Gayford, the PM's partner, has taken to Instagram to show off a doll made for their daughter Neve. Neve, three, has named it Creepy Mummy. Take a look at this video to see why.
11.40am: Just a reminder that there will be no 1pm press conference today. The Ministry of Health will release the latest infection information some time after 1pm. Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield will front a news conference at 4pm, where they will provide a lockdown update.
11.10am: Covid-19 modeller Professor Shaun Hendy told Breakfast just because most of the country is likely moving down an alert level this week, they aren't out of the woods.
"There's still a risk to regions closely connected to Auckland; we have essential workers moving across those boundaries," Hendy said.
He said those in Waikato and Bay of Plenty should be particularly careful.
10.35am: The Tasi Market fruit and vege shop on Triangle Rd, Massey, is Auckland's latest location of interest. Those who visited on Thursday August 26 between 7.30am and 6pm, the same time on Friday, and between 7.30am and 3pm on Saturday must isolate at home.
10.30am: In case you missed it yesterday, 1 NEWS' Irra Lee looked at why less than 10 notifications have been sent to phones from the Covid-19 tracer app's bluetooth function.
9.50am: NZ Post is warning that as parts of the country move into lower alert levels, there may be delays as more parcels get posted. “NZ Post is gearing up to meet the increase in parcels and to reduce the impact of any delays. We’ve re-designed our Auckland network since last lockdown to ease potential areas of congestion, set up temporary processing sites and operating extended processing hours,” chief customer officer Bryan Dobson says.
9.30am: Mental health advocate Mike King spoke to the SUNDAY programme about the impact lockdown and isolation is having on young people.
9am: Funeral directors are increasingly concerned at the stress facing grieving families under Alert Level 4 restrictions and the rule-bending lengths they’re going to come together. You can see Simon Mercep's full story here .
8.30am: A naval barracks in Devonport, Auckland, which is housing MIQ staff is in lockdown after coronavirus was detected in wastewater, Stuff reports. So far 54 tests have come back negative, with eight more pending. The suburb was home to the first person to be confirmed with Covid in the current outbreak.
8am: A person working for the police in Auckland has tested positive for Covid-19 but wasn't working while infectious. According to a police spokesperson, the non-constabulary staff member was a close contact of an existing case .
7.20am: Verrall also issued an apology, after Barbara Dreaver last night reported a big group of Pasifika families in Tauranga were told they couldn’t be vaccinated unless they presented their passports first. You can see Barbara's story in the link below.
7am: Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall told Breakfast that she hasn't been called to be updated with any Covid-19 community cases in New Zealand overnight.
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