NZ wakes up to lowered Covid-19 restrictions, despite three community cases announced yesterday

February 18, 2021

There were three new community cases yesterday, but it didn’t prevent the Government for reducing restrictions across the board.

New Zealand is waking up to the extra freedoms with a drop in alert levels overnight.

Auckland is now at Alert Level 2, while the rest of the country is back at Alert Level 1.

At Alert Level 2, events in Auckland are capped at 100 people. Social distancing is required in public places, and people in bars and restaurants have to be seated and served by one person.

The rest of the country will now also be required to wear face coverings while on public transport. Until now, only Aucklanders have been required to do so.

The lowered alert levels is despite three new community Covid-19 cases being identified yesterday, all of which are linked to the Papatoetoe High School student who contracted the virus.

It’s because of those clear epidemiological links that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday the Government was confident enough to lower alert level restrictions.

Papatoetoe High School will remain closed until Monday, and staff and students will be required to test negative for Covid-19 before returning. The school will remain a pop-up testing station for the community.

Other schools in Auckland re-open today. Businesses can also re-open.

Meanwhile, the McDonald's on Cavendish Drive in Papatoetoe is closed today for deep cleaning, with one of the cases having worked there from 11.30am until 4.15pm on February 13.

The restaurant is part of a newly released list of locations of interest the cases had visited. The full list is on the Ministry of Health website .

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