Cabinet has confirmed all of New Zealand south of Auckland will move to level 3 from 11.59pm on Tuesday night. PM Jacinda Ardern says this will be for at least a week, to be reviewed at Cabinet next week. Northland will likely join the rest of the country at alert level three from 11:59pm on Thursday, Ardern says. Cabinet has also confirmed Auckland will remain at alert level four until 14 September. Cabinet will consider next steps for the region on 13 September. Ardern says level 4 “is making a difference”. “The job is not yet done and we do need to keep going.” For Auckland and Northland, Ardern says the cases in Warkworth were found late in the lockdown and were not equivalent to the cases in Wellington, where cases were monitored and did not appear to have spread. “We just haven’t had that level of time for the cases we’re concerned about in Warkworth, and with possible contacts beyond. Once we have that same level of reassurance in Northland we feel safe to move alert levels. She says the government is awaiting test results from wastewater in Northland, and tests from people who were at locations of interest. If they all came back clear Northland could move to alert level 3 at 11.59 pm on Thursday. “Just an indication here if all those tests come back clear,” she says. Ardern says if New Zealand had not moved into alert level 4, estimates of the number of new cases today could have been about 550.
