The High Court has been told the Director-General of Health did have the legal right to issue a blanket closure of businesses under Alert Level 4.
Lawyer Andrew Borrowdale is taking a judicial review case against Ashley Bloomfield, claiming he overstepped his powers and that the law required him to specify each business that should shut.
A lawyer acting for the crown said forcing officials to produce such a list would have been time consuming and risked giving Covid-19 the opportunity to spread.
Hamish Cardwell was in the High Court in Wellington for the second day of the case and filed this report.
