Police are urging the public to stay the course and resist the temptation to breach alert level restrictions in the warmer weather.
Photo: 123rf.com
With the entire country apart from Auckland moving to alert level 2 at 11:59pm on Tuesday, police are urging people to stick to the Covid-19 guidelines that apply to their region.
Until restrictions are lifted, police are urging people to stick to their bubbles and maintain physical distancing from others outside their bubble when out exercising.
While those who are moving about for essential purposes must remember to wear a face covering and to scan or sign in.
In a statement, police said there were some instances in Auckland over the weekend, where they found people were in groups at places like playgrounds and skateparks.
Police said playgrounds and other such facilities are closed at higher alert levels for everyone's safety.
If people are leaving their home to exercise they must ensure it is in their local area, police said.
In the Waikato district on Sunday afternoon, police said the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and Raglan Coastguard were called in to rescue a man who fell into water while fishing off rocks at Papanui Point near Ruapuke.
The man, who was from outside the area, was able to swim to a nearby rock where another member of the public contacted emergency services, and he was winched to safety.
Enforcement action is being considered in this case, but it serves as a reminder to the public about the reason why restrictions are in place, police said.
Under alert level 3, fishing is only permitted from the shoreline or a wharf while fishing from rocks or from a boat is not permitted.
For Aucklanders, no water-based activities are permitted while under alert level 4.
A police checkpoint in Mercer, near Auckland's border with Waikato. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
Checkpoints
As of 3.30pm on Sunday, police said a total of 21,474 vehicles have been stopped at the ten checkpoints on Auckland's northern and southern boundaries.
Out of these, a total of 715 were turned away for non-essential travel.
Between 11.59pm on 2 September and 3:30pm on 5 September, 2,155 vehicles have been stopped at the northern checkpoints and of those, just 120 vehicles were turned away for non-essential travel.
This remains around four percent of all motorists.
Meanwhile, police said they are noticing some motorists travelling at high speeds near the sites of the regional checkpoints in Auckland.
Temporary speed limits are in place for the safety of road users, as well as staff operating the checkpoints, police said.
The approach to each checkpoint has a temporary speed limit of 60km/h which then reduces to 30km/h ahead of the checkpoint sites.
Police have been detecting some people going through these zones travelling in excess of 100km/h, which poses considerable risk to the person's safety and the safety of those around them.
Road users are reminded to slow down and follow the temporary speed limits in place near these checkpoint sites to keep everyone safe.
Enforcement action may be taken for those motorists found travelling in excess of the speed limits in place.
This remains around four percent of all motorists.
Thirty two vehicles were turned around at the northern checkpoints on 5 September.
Offences and breach reports
Since alert level 4 came into place, 186 people have been charged with a total of 197 offences nationwide as at 5pm on Sunday, police said.
Of the charges filed, 188 were for offences committed in alert level 4 and nine were for offences committed in Alert Level 3.
Of these, 135 are for Failing to Comply with Order (COVID-19), 39 for Failure to Comply with Direction/Prohibition/Restriction, 18 for Health Act Breaches, and five for Assaults/Threatens/Hinders/Obstructs Enforcement Officer.
In the same time period, 486 people were warned for 489 offences.
In addition to the online breach notifications, a total of 10,805 Covid-19 related calls were made to the 105-phone line.
More than 3000 of these calls were to report perceived Covid-19 breaches, Police said.
