Day three of lockdown and the covid testing station chaos continues. Video / NZ Herald
Police have charged one person in the Bay of Plenty after they were accused of flouting Covid-19 lockdown rules.
They are one of nine people across the country who have been charged in relation to breaching alert level 4 restrictions.
The Bay of Plenty person will face two charges.
Thereare two charges against two people in Northland, five charges against three people in Auckland and three charges against three people in Canterbury.
The arrests were made between the beginning of level 4 and 5pm on Thursday, August 19, and the majority related to protest activity.
The number of locations of interest relating to the latest Covid-19 outbreak continues to swell.
Empty streets in Tauranga during the first day of the Delta lockdown. Photo / George Novak
As of 1pm yesterday, there were 31 total confirmed cases and more than 200 locations of interest across the country.
A 58-year-old Devonport man tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week. He has the Delta strain of the virus, which is known to be more severe and more easily spread than the original form of Covid-19.
The outbreak has also sent TV star Hilary Barry and 1000 others into isolation after a gala awards dinner attended by another positive case.
Meanwhile, a four-day extension to the lockdown was added yesterday.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Friday the level-4 lockdown had been extended nationwide until 11.59pm on Tuesday, after confirmation the outbreak had spread to Wellington.
It comes as 11 cases, including three in Wellington, were announced on Friday, taking the total reported in the community since Tuesday to 31.
The three in Wellington had travelled to Auckland on Sunday - one by plane and the others by car - after visiting a location of interest there.
Eruera St in Rotorua on the first day of lockdown. Photo / Andrew Warner
The remaining eight cases were in Auckland.
Nineteen cases are now confirmed as part of the Auckland outbreak, with the remaining 12 under investigation but likely linked to the outbreak.
Auckland faces an even longer lockdown until at least late August, with the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield confirming he wanted an extension.
Ardern would not directly answer questions on the matter, saying it was too soon to say what this outbreak would mean in the long term for Auckland.
