‘𝕎𝕖’𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤’: ℕℤ 𝕓𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔻𝕖𝕝𝕥𝕒

𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕞𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕤𝕒𝕚𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕒𝕤 “𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕨𝕤, 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟”.

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ew Zealand has reported 75 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, all but one in Auckland. One case in Wellington was a close contact already in isolation.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said a bounce in numbers - there were 49 yesterday, the lowest number in six days - was expected.

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He said it was clear it was still lower than the peak of 83 cases on Sunday, proving the reproduction rate was staying low. The rate was under 1 on Tuesday.

More than 70 per cent of Tuesday’s cases were already isolating and had not triggered new exposure site warnings.

Bloomfield said the latest modelling was “more positive news, showing we are breaking the chains of transmission”.

The country south of Auckland is on level-three lockdown, while Auckland and the Northland region remain on the toughest level-four restrictions, in which all school and childcare are closed and takeaway is not allowed.

There are checkpoints at the southern border of Auckland preventing non-essential travel and some people had been turned around, COVID Response Minister Chris Hipkins said. He said authorisation for essential travel had been provided to more than 3300 companies.

Inspector Kay Lane from Counties Manukau Police told local media outlet Stuffthat about 30 people had been prevented from travelling across the border.

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“We have five checkpoints in operation as Auckland and Northland remain in alert level four and the rest of the country in alert level three.

“Police were generally pleased with the compliance and most members of our community had the correct documentation ready to show police. We thank our community for this.”

More than 22,000 COVID-19 tests were taken on Tuesday, Hipkins said.

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