Wellington, (Asian independent) New Zealand will move up its Covid-19 Alert Levels from 11.59 p.m. on Sunday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Due to the three new community Covid-19 cases reported on Sunday, the Covid-19 Alert Level in the largest city of Auckland will move up to Alert Level Three and the rest of the country will enter Alert Level Two, Xinhua news agency quoted Ardern as saying at a press briefing here.
The decisions around upgrading the Covid-19 Alert Levels were made after an urgent Cabinet meeting on Sunday.
“Cabinet has chosen to response with a cautious approach,” said Ardern, who reiterated the importance and efficacy of “go early and go hard” approach.
People in Auckland, including students, were asked to stay home while essential services including supermarkets, petrol stations and pharmacies will stay open.
A review of the Alert Levels will be updated in 24 hours.
The three new cases comprise a couple and their daughter in the south Auckland community.
The mother works for a service company at the airport.
Their positive test results came on Saturday night and genome sequencing is underway, said Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
While the infections were likely to be border related, the source of the infection is still under investigation, said Bloomfield.
New Zealand has so far reported 2,330 coronavirus cases and 25 deaths.
