'How the heck?' Mayor frustrated after Covid case let out of Auckland

The mayor of Waikato District is wanting answers after a prisoner, who later tested positive for Covid-19, was allowed on remand outside of Auckland during lockdown.

Allan Sanson said he'll be contacting the Prime Minister's office as well as the Department of Justice to find out how the prisoner was allowed into Waikato while Aucklanders aren't allowed leaving the city unless for special reasons. 

"No one else can move freely across the border unless tested and are an essential worker," Sanson told Breakfast. 

"So how the heck did they ever remand somebody out of Auckland? I cannot believe that." 

The Ministry of Health announced late on Sunday that three people from the household of the prisoner had tested positive in the Kaiaua/Whakatīwai area of Waikato. 

Among them are two school-aged children who attended Mangatangi School on the Hauraki Plains. 

There are nine people in total who live in the household of the prisoner who tested positive for Covid-19.

Sanson learned that household contacts of the prisoner had tested positive around 5.30pm on Sunday, a few hours before the Ministry of Health made the news public.

He was shocked to learn the news, adding he had assumed the positive case would be an essential worker travelling out of Auckland.

"My heart just sunk, especially for those two communities up in there - they're lovely communities." 

Sanson said there's a "fairly high" chance the virus will have spread further through the Waikato and beyond the Hauraki Plains due to communities being able to move freely at Alert Level 2. 

"The chances of this actually being spread are fairly high, it's just how far has it spread.

"If the lockdown hadn't of been in place, [the communities] would have been more intended to gravitate north, rather than south but not with us being in Alert Level 2." 

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said location of where the man was remanded to lied with the courts.

"When bail is granted, the person is granted that bail on the basis of the court's decision that will keep them and the community safe."

 "It's not without some precedent but it is a decision that ultimately the court make." 

Robertson added that it isn't unusual for someone to be remanded elsewhere outside of an Alert Level 4 boundary as seen with returnees after finishing a stint in MIQ. 

He also noted the location that the prisoner was remanded to was close to the Auckland boundary, which may have influenced the decision despite the area being in Level 2. 

"Clearly this is an area that we're focussing on, to see whether or not there has been a chain of transmission and we want to make sure that if people have any symptoms whatsoever in the area that they isolate and get tested." 

A pop-up testing centre has been established at the Wharewaka Marae in Whakatīwai with the Ministry of Health encouraging locals to get tested for Covid-19.

An announcement on Auckland's alert level as well as any other changes to Covid-19 restrictions is expected at 4pm on Monday. 

The decision will be streamed live on TVNZ1 as well as on the 1News website and Facebook page.