The government's decision to move to alert level 3 in Auckland was "prudent", Hendy said. The move out of alert level 3 in Auckland would depend on what information is gathered over the next few days. If a large cluster like the August one eventuated, then a longer lockdown would be required, and people should be prepared for a lockdown of several weeks. Hendy said New Plymouth was unlikely to be the source of transmission and was "downstream" from the cases. New Zealand's systems were good at handling downstream cases, Hendy said, so he believed keeping Taranaki in alert level 2 was the right approach for now.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 15, 2021 05:15 UTC