The COVID-19 alert levels will remain unchanged this week. 

The current alert levels of 2.5 in Auckland and level two in the rest of the country were scheduled to expire this week but a review by cabinet today (Monday September 14) decided that the levels would not be altered this week, the prime minister Jacinda Ardern said.

On the advice of the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, cabinet has decided “on a short extension of the current restrictions,” she said.

The PM did signal the next steps, indicating that for Auckland the decision will be reviewed on Monday September 21 “with a view to increase gathering limits for Auckland” which would come into effect from Wednesday September 23.

“For the rest of the country, while we retain the status quo for now, cabinet has agreed in principle that [at] 11:59pm on Monday September 21 the rest of New Zealand will move to alert level one,” she said.

“This is contingent on the cases tracking as they are and maintaining the containment we have seen. The move will be confirmed on Monday when cabinet meets again.”

She said cabinet wasn’t prepared to reduce alert levels yet because interregional travel between Auckland and the rest of the country still posed a threat the virus could spread wider.

The PM said the government has been cautious about moving between alert levels and any move down the scale had to be sustainable. To date, with new cases of COVID-19 being reported almost every day in Auckland, cabinet was not satisfied that reducing the alert level at this point would be sustainable.

The last time cabinet made the decision to move down to level one the country had spent 26 days at level two - more than two transmission cycles - and the country had gone 17 days without any new cases of COVID-19 being reported, she said.

“That was to give ourselves confidence that any move back to level one would stick.”

In contrast, only 14 days have been spent at level 2.5 in Auckland and community cases have continued to emerge.

The PM also announced a change to the physical distancing requirements for passengers on aircraft and public transport brought about by the high level of compliance with mask wearing.

“From today public transport operators, including airlines, buses and trains, do not need to maintain any seating restrictions or passenger capacity limits at level two. Mask use will continue to be compulsory.” 

Health authorities today also report one new community case of COVID-19. The case is a female child who is linked to the Auckland cluster and has been in isolation since August 30 due to being a household contact of a confirmed case.

This brings New Zealand’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 1,447.

Today three COVID-19 cases are in hospital; two are in ICU.

The case of the healthcare worker from the Auckland quarantine facility who was reported yesterday has now been directly linked to three cases that have been in the quarantine facility. Those three cases were part of the South Auckland August cluster.

This reinforces the likelihood that the transmission of the virus to the health worker was via exposure at the Jet Park quarantine facility rather than external community transmission. 

PHOTO: Supplied