Auckland will stay in Alert Level 3 “as it currently stands” for another week.

Cabinet will review that position when it meets again next Monday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said schools will not reopen on the 18th and further public health advice will be provided next week.

Distance learning will instead reconvene at the beginning of term four. Students who are currently able to access education facilities will continue to do so.

The Waikato will remain at Alert Level 3 until 11:59 pm on Thursday the 14th of October.

The Prime Minister in Northland, “unfortunately, the Covid-positive person is uncooperative. They’re refusing to share their movements and they have a travel companion that hasn’t been located.”

CCTV footage has helped, but doesn’t tell “the whole story.”

“What I would say is that Health are working very closely with the New Zealand police. And of course, we do need to allow the New Zealand police to undertake their own investigation, some of which you can imagine we wouldn’t necessarily go into great detail around some of the tools that they are using, but we are engaging them, because of the extraordinary nature of the situation.”

Without clear information of locations of interest, the Government is relying on high rates of testing to give them the confidence there’s no undetected transmission.

Ardern said this is an “incredibly frustrating” situation.

Northland will stay at a “lower level three” for further three days until 11:59pm this Thursday, the 14th of October.