Covid 19 coronavirus: Two men travel from Auckland to Hamilton casino - after lockdown

Name: Focus Live: Police set up checkpoints around Auckland
Uploaded: 2020-08-12T14:09:54+12:00
Duration: 315 s
Description: Police have set up roadblocks around the wider Auckland area in a bid to stop further community spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus. Video / Will Trafford

NZ Herald

16 Aug, 2020 08:20 PM3 mins to read

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Police have set up roadblocks around the wider Auckland area in a bid to stop further community spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus. Video / Will Trafford

Two men travelling from Auckland managed to pass lockdown restrictions to get into Hamilton to play at a SkyCity casino.

But their luck ran out when staff there recognised where the men had come from and they were asked to leave immediately.

The incident happened on Thursday night - a day after Auckland was put into alert level 3 lockdown when a family of four tested positive for Covid-19 through community transmission.

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Police confirmed authorities had been advised by staff at SkyCity Hamilton that two men from Auckland had visited the casino on Thursday.

A police spokeswoman said officers and members of the NZ Defence Force were stopping every vehicle attempting to travel through each checkpoint and speaking to every driver to understand their need for essential travel.

Two men from Auckland travelled to SkyCity Hamilton on Thursday after lockdown started. Image / Google

But she acknowledged that members of the public needed to be honest about their travel.

"To a certain extent, police and NZDF staff have to accept at face value the reasons for travel provided by motorists," the spokeswoman said.

Public urged to be truthful about travel

"The vast majority of people are complying with the alert level restrictions and doing their part to keep our communities safe.

"Unfortunately, there will be people in our communities who are untruthful regarding their reasons for travel - and that is incredibly disappointing."

It is understood only SkyCity Hamilton Casino members are being allowed into the establishment under the city's current alert level 2 status.

That policy was put in place to ensure there was a record of everyone who was on the gaming floor and at what time in case that information was needed at a later date, the spokeswoman said.

Before getting out of Auckland, the men involved would have had to declare their reasons for leaving the city at the final checkpoint at Bombay.

Police have 10 checkpoints around the Auckland region and are stopping vehicles at all exit points, asking passengers their reasons for wanting to leave the city.

As of 5pm on Saturday, a total of 50,468 vehicle had been stopped at checkpoints around Auckland, police said.

Of those, 676 were turned around for undertaking non-essential travel.