The Wellington region will go to Covid-19 Alert Level 2 from 6pm tonight after a visit from a Covid-positive Australian tourist.
It would include the Wairarapa and Kāpiti coast, up to north of Ōtaki.
That will extend through to 11.59pm Sunday. The rest of New Zealand remains at Alert Level 1.
The capital will remain at Level 2 until Sunday, Chris Hipkins said.
Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield and Covid-19 Chris Hipkins made the announcement today.
Hipkins said it was precautionary while more information was gathered around the case and it was not a lockdown.
The alert level change came after an emergency Cabinet meeting.
Dr Bloomfield said the person works in a healthcare setting near Bondi Junction. One of the cases that is part of the current outbreak had been seen by this person.
He said he was confident they had located all the known places of interest in Wellington.
"It's a good reminder of the value of the app."
There are four close contacts of the traveller, two in Palmerston North who tested negative and two in Tauranga whose results have not yet come through. He later clarified the Tauranga contacts had tested negative.
It comes after a recently confirmed case travelled from Sydney to Wellington and back again over the weekend.
The person arrived just after midnight on Saturday before flying back to Sydney just after 10am on Monday morning, NSW Health confirmed yesterday evening. They subsequently tested positive in New South Wales.
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