New Zealand is once again split along a Covid-19 border with police checkpoints in operation at the boundaries of alert levels 3 and 4.
The country south of Auckland is in lockdown level 3 and the checkpoints at five locations on the city’s southern boundaries have been running since 11pm yesterday.
Only those with exemptions to travel for essential reasons are able to travel through.
The Road Transport Forum is advising freight and stock-truck drivers to have their paperwork ready at the Auckland-Waikato border to avoid long delays.
There are 612 community cases in the country; 49 new cases were reported yesterday, a fall from Monday.
Of the 33 people in hospital, eight are in ICU and two are being ventilated
Six cases in the Auckland outbreak are under the age of 1
Auckland is in alert level 4 until 14 September, Northland will likely join the rest of the country at alert level 3 from 11:59pm on Thursday and all New Zealand south of Auckland is in level 3
Police have set up five checkpoints on the southern outskirts of Auckland
The outbreak is linked to a returnee from Sydney who arrived on a MIQ flight on 7 August. Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says we may never find out how the virus got into the community
