There are no new cases of Covid-19 in the community and all contacts of the family connected to the latest outbreak have so far returned negative tests.

The Ministry of Health released the information ahead of the Prime Minister and director general of health Ashley Bloomfield speaking at 4pm after the Cabinet meeting.

There are five new cases in managed isolation, the ministry said.

After genomic testing confirmed the family's cases were the UK variant - B1.1.7 - ESR is now scanning the international genome database to see if there is a match.

"This result reinforces the decision to take swift and robust action around the latest cases to detect and stamp out the possibility of any further transmission," the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Yesterday a mother, father and daughter tested positive for the highly infectious UK variant of Covid-19, spurring Auckland into alert level 3 lockdown and the rest of the country into alert level 2 lockdown for 72 hours.

Contact tracing has identified 10 close contacts outside the household. Six of these close contacts have returned a negative test and four results are pending.

Further interviews with the confirmed cases will happen today which could mean the locations of interest could change or be added to.

"The priority is for close contacts and casual plus contacts to be tested so we can understand any risk in the community."

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Police stop motorists at a Covid Police Checkpoint on State Highway 1 just south of the Brynderwyns. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Testing

More than 1000 tests from across Auckland were processed yesterday and community testing sites at Health New Lynn, The Whanau Ora Community Clinic in Wiri, Otara Community Testing Centre and Botany Testing Centre are open for more community testing.

For further information on community testing station hours is available on the Auckland Regional Public Health Service website https://www.arphs.health.nz/

A testing site is also available at Papatoetoe High School, the school Case B attended. Please note this testing site is only for students, teachers and their families.

LSG Sky Chefs, where the mother worked, have testing onsite for staff and their families today.

There are also two pop-up testing centres in Waikato - alongside the permanent community testing centre. Those pop-up testing sites can be found at Claudelands Event Centre and Otorohanga Sport Club.

Taranaki Base Hospital, MediCross Urgent Care & GP Clinic, Hâwera Hospital, Waitara Health Centre and Ôpunake Health Centre/Coastal Care are testing centres in Taranaki - where the family visited over Waitangi Weekend.

"It's important the right people can get access to testing — so please don't rush to a centre if you are well, or if you weren't at one of the locations of interest.

"We are anticipating high demand at our Covid-19 testing sites and delays are possible, so our request is to please be patient," the ministry said.

"A reminder that if you were not at a location of interest at the stated times and you have no symptoms you do not need to be tested.

"If you were at the locations of interest at the times stated, you need to get a test, and remain isolated until you receive the result.

"If you have symptoms but have not been to a location of interest stay home and call Healthline for advice.

"As always, if you are unwell with symptoms, take advice about getting tested before you head out – firstly by calling Healthline."

Health officials also reminded Kiwis to use the Covid Tracer app and ensure the Bluetooth function was turned on.

The app now has 2,591,784 registered users and more than 1.1 million people have now enabled Bluetooth.

Of the five cases in managed isolation, one from the United States has been deemed historical.

Three of the confirmed cases returned from India via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia and the fourth confirmed case is from the United Arab Emirates and flew via Malaysia.

They all arrived on February 13 and tested positive on their day 0 test.

Six previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 47. Our total number of confirmed cases is 1,980.

Meanwhile, dozens of cars have been lining up at an Auckland school today as worried students, families and community members wait to be tested following a student's positive Covid test.

The long queues - and a wait for up to two hours - were a contrast to the many quiet Auckland roads as the region moved to level-3 lockdown overnight.

A regular stream of up to 100 vehicles have been queuing at Papatoetoe High School after it was revealed one of the three family members - a young woman - attends the school. The school has about 1500 students and 28 of them, along with five teachers, are considered close contacts.

The school is closed for at least two days and the pop-up testing station is being used for students and families in the community.

The three new community Covid cases - the student and her mother and father - have been identified as having the dangerous UK variant of the virus and they have not been linked to any managed isolation or quarantine case, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today.

But she said it was too soon to say whether Auckland would come out of level-3 lockdown - or New Zealand out of alert level 2 - as early as Wednesday night.

Auckland moved to level 3 for at least three days at 11.59 last night, with employees asked to work from home, students urged to stay away from school and police setting up checkpoints at eight locations at the region's border overnight.

Officers are checking all vehicles arriving and leaving Auckland to ensure there is no non-essential travel. Alert level 2 is less restrictive. (The full list of rules are detailed below).

A long queue of cars outside Papatoetoe High School this morning as people wait to be tested. Photo / Dean Purcell

Ardern told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking today that the link to the British variant had led officials to think the virus might have come through airport transit or it had stemmed from an international airline crew member.

The mother works at LSG Sky Chefs, where she handles laundry from international flights.

"We do still have people who transit through New Zealand and fly on to other destinations. They stay airside but of course, it means they are using the things that go through the laundry at this individual's place of work," Ardern told Newstalk ZB.

"The other possibility is that it's international airline crew... they also do the laundry of a couple of international airline crew. And so, that is also one of the possibilities."

It was still possible - but unlikely - the new cases had come from an MIQ case which hadn't been sequenced, said Ardern.

She told MediaWorks that the "worst-case scenario" was that the outbreak was linked to a case which had come through MIQ three or four weeks ago. That would imply a long chain of transmission - the genomic testing results this morning ruled that out.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told Three that the UK variant was extra dangerous. "[It] does cause us that little bit of extra concern as well because we know the UK variant spreads faster - all the more reason for us to be ultra-vigilant."

There are 21 locations and times of interest that the family has visited over the past week - from Auckland to New Plymouth - although Hipkins said the family had not been using the Covid Tracer app regularly. But contact tracers had been able to pull together a list of the locations they'd visited.

Ardern told Newstalk ZB that the news of the UK variant didn't necessarily mean Auckland would spend longer in level 3.

The queue of cars waiting to get into the Covid-19 testing station at Papatoetoe High School. Photo / Dean Purcell

Police set up road-blocks

Meanwhile, police have already set up road-blocks at eight locations on Auckland's border and are checking vehicles coming into and leaving the region this morning.

Cars on the Southern Motorway were bumper-to-bumper in some spots last night as many residents looked to flee the lockdown.

"Eight checkpoints on the outskirts of Auckland will be stopping vehicles and questioning drivers, ensuring there is no non-essential movement through the region," said Police Commissioner Andrew Coster. "From midnight, anyone attempting to travel across the regional boundaries should expect to be stopped and asked for proof of essential travel. The exemption process will run the same way as it has previously."

It is expected travellers will be given some leeway today.

Ardern urged people to limit their travel and said she would be asking all her Auckland-based MPs to remain in the city.

Meanwhile, Australia has suspended its quarantine-free travel bubble for New Zealanders arriving into the country. Kiwis will now have to quarantine for 14 days. The situation will be reviewed in three days.

The dramatic developments came as the Auckland family - the mother, father and daughter - tested positive for Covid-19 and are considered community cases.

The daughter attends Papatoetoe High School and a testing site is being set up there today. The school is closed today and tomorrow.

In an emergency press conference last night, Ardern confirmed Auckland would be at alert level 3 as of 11:59pm. It will stay at this level for at least three days, and Cabinet will review the setting every 24 hours.

Another press conference will be held at 4pm today.

The rest of the country has moved to alert level 2 for the same period of time – until midnight Wednesday.

The family's travel and tests

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the family at the centre of the Valentine's Day outbreak also hadn't been regularly using the Covid Tracer app.

But contact tracers had been able to pull together a list of the locations they'd visited.

Hipkins also told Te Ao Tapatahi this morning that the mother's workplace, LSG Sky Chefs, had done "everything right" and were regularly testing employees not required to be tested out of "an abundance of precaution".

"The fact that she has been regularly tested is a good sign. She is not a frontline worker so she doesn't go onto the plane, doesn't go air-side, doesn't interact with passengers.

"So one of the questions here is 'Could she have picked it up from the laundry? Could she have been in contact with someone else who picked it up from the plane and interacted with her?"

Hipkins said because the woman wasn't on the Government's required testing schedule, she wouldn't have been in-line to be among the first frontline workers vaccinated.

The vaccine would be mandatory for all staff working on the frontline at the border - so interacting with returnees - so if someone is unwilling to get it they will be transferred into a different job where the risk is lower, said Hipkins.

The next 48 hours would be critical to finding out how far the outbreak had spread and Hipkins said it would be "really encouraging" if there were no positive results which would mean a shorter lockdown than the one used to contain the Auckland August cluster.

"Don't panic, stay calm, stay home if you can, stay kind. We've been through this before and we've been very successful in stamping it out before and we can do that again if everybody just follows the rules and looks out for one another."

Mother, father and daughter test positive

The moves have been sparked by the emergence of the three new community cases in the family, who live in South Auckland's Papatoetoe.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield believes the mother – who works at airline supplier LSG Sky chefs in Mangere – was the first to contract the disease. She works directly with laundry from aircraft.

There are still many unknowns and officials will work around the clock to find answers, including how the mother contracted the virus.

Ardern said the Government had again decided to go hard and early, as it was a tactic which had worked well in the past.

The new level 3 rules in Auckland meant everyone who was not an essential worker should stay home. That means schools across the city will be closed.

Ardern said supermarkets and petrol stations would remain open; she told Aucklanders there was "no need to rush out and get essential items".

The level-3 rules mean that the Prada Cup racing that had been scheduled for Wednesday between Luna Rossa and Ineos Team UK has been postponed.

And any other event over scheduled to go ahead in the next three days will also have to be cancelled. Level 3 restrictions mean there can be no gatherings of more than 10 people unless they are for weddings funerals and tangihanga.

That number is 100 for the rest of the country, but both Ardern and Bloomfield were advising people to "be vigilant".

Over the coming days, Ardern said officials would be working to figure out as much about the new cases as possible.

That includes undergoing another testing blitz in Auckland to find out how extensive the community transmission may have been.

Level 3 rules

* You legally must stay within your household bubble whenever you're not at work or school. You can expand this to connect with close family and whānau, bring in caregivers, or support isolated people. It's important to protect your bubble. Keep your bubble exclusive and only include people where it will keep you and them safe and healthy. If anyone within your bubble feels unwell, they legally must immediately self-isolate from everyone else within the bubble.

* Do not invite or allow social visitors, such as friends, extended family and whānau, to enter your home

* Gatherings of up to 10 people can continue, but only for wedding services, funerals and tangihanga

* Public venues legally must close. This includes libraries, museums, cinemas, food courts, gyms, pools, playgrounds and markets.

* Where possible the Ministry of Health encourages students to learn from home. Schools can safely open but will have limited capacity.

* You can travel within your local area, for example going to work or school, shopping, or getting exercise. Public transport can continue to operate with strict health and safety requirements

* Travel between regions is heavily restricted

* You should keep a distance of at least two metres in public and retail stores, like supermarkets and one metre in controlled environments, like workplaces and schools

* You're strongly encouraged to wear a face covering when you're outside your home and in a place where it's hard to stay two metres away from other people, like in shops. You legally must wear a face covering on public transport.

* If your business requires close physical contact it can't operate

* The Ministry of Health recommends your staff work from home if they can

* Businesses need to display a QR code and have an alternative contact tracing system

* The Ministry recommends making sure people either scan in or provide their contact details

* Customers cannot come onto your premises — unless you are a supermarket, dairy, butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer, petrol station, pharmacy or permitted health service

* Your business legally must be contactless. Your customers can pay online, over the phone or in a contactless way. Delivery or pick-up legally must also be contactless

* Basic hygiene measures legally must be maintained. Physical distancing, hand washing and regularly cleaning surfaces. Workers legally must stay home if they are sick

* Staff legally must remain a minimum of 1 metre apart at all times where practical. The ministry recommends other measures, such as PPE including face coverings, being used where appropriate.

* Different advice applies to essential healthcare workers, border agencies, courts and tribunal staff, first responders and corrections staff. You can get further advice from the Ministry of Health

* You legally must meet all other health and safety obligations.

Level 2 rules

* No more than 100 people at social gatherings, including weddings, birthdays, funerals and tangihanga

* Businesses can open, but they legally must follow public health rules. These include physical distancing and record keeping.

* Alternative ways of working are encouraged where possible

* Talk with your staff to identify risks and ways to manage them.

* Ask everyone — workers, contractors and customers — with cold, flu or Covid-19 symptoms to stay away from your premises

Keep workers one metre apart and customers in retail businesses two metres apart

* Businesses are legally required to display a QR code and provide an alternative contact tracing system

* Face coverings are strongly encouraged if you are in close contact with others

* Reduce the number of shared surfaces, and regularly disinfect them. Wash your hands.