A timeline of Covid-19 as the number of confirmed cases increases around the world.
In a bid to prevent New Zealanders using Facebook Marketplace during the country's lockdown, the social media giant is putting precautions in place to encourage people to stop trading items.
New Zealand is at alert level 4 which means everyone must stay at home and only go out to buyessential products and for exercise.
However, essential workers are allowed to leave to go to work and back.
This means people can not trade items through websites such as Facebook Marketplace.
"Couriers will only be delivering essential items. We are asking customers to commit to only purchasing essential items at this time," a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment said.
In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson told the Herald that the site has updated its Marketplace help centre with more guidance on how to buy and sell products amidst the Covid-19 outbreak.
The help centre recommends people to follow the guidance from local health authorities for how to stay healthy and help prevent the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) while buying and selling items.
The spokesperson said that they are also working on adding a banner to the top of Marketplace mobile to ask people to follow local guidelines on physical distancing and staying home.
"Our teams are monitoring the Covid-19 situation closely and making necessary updates to help people stay informed," they said.
"Overall we suggest following the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] for how to stay healthy and help prevent the spread of coronavirus while buying and selling.
"It's important for people to follow local laws and directives that may be in place for their area."
The spokesperson said it has temporarily banned commerce listings and advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that sell medical face masks, hand sanitiser, surface disinfecting wipes, and Covid-19 testing kits. This also includes Facebook Marketplace.
"If we see people selling these products on Marketplace, we'll remove them," they said.
"We already prohibit people from making health or medical claims related to the coronavirus in product listings on commerce surfaces, such as Marketplace, including those listings that guarantee a product will prevent someone from contracting it.
"We have a dedicated channel for local governments to share listings they believe violate local laws.
