Rest homes across New Zealand going into Level 4 lockdown for three days

August 12, 2020
The review will centre on the five rest home coronavirus clusters.

Rest homes across New Zealand are going into full lockdown until midnight on Friday, after the positive Covid-19 cases in South Auckland.

With facilities effectively operating at Alert Level 4, Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace says no visits from family would be allowed.

He said rest homes were not taking any chances.

"The experience in Melbourne where more than 100 rest homes have been affected shows the impact of not moving quickly.

"This a precautionary measure and the situation will be reassessed on Friday."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the aged care sector felt strongly about facilities going into a full lockdown.

"We all know that people in our aged care facilities are our most vulnerable and so we must take those extra precautions to look after them," she said.

"For this reason all aged care facilities through New Zealand will close their doors to everyone except staff and essential deliveries from noon today.”

“We’re working with the sector also to ensure staff don’t work across multiple sites and multiple facilities, that’s another lesson that has been learnt from overseas.”

"I realise how incredibly difficult this will be for people with loved ones in these facilities but this is the best way to protect and look after them."

Auckland is moving into Alert Level 3 today at midday, when the rest of New Zealand will move to Alert Level 2 following four new cases of Covid-19 in Auckland acquired through community transmission.

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