The cancellation of gatherings of 500 or more people because of Covid-19 is being seen as a good start.

The Government is expected to provide more information about the policy today.

Wellington's Homegrown music festival will not go ahead this weekend as scheduled, with organisers confirming it has been postponed until later this year, while the Auckland Arts Festival has been forced to cancel four shows.

Whangamata's Beach Hop is also postponing its 20th year celebrations from March 25-29 until November this year and the organisers of the Polyfest have also canned the event that was due to take place this week in Auckland.

Otago University infectious diseases expert Ayesha Verrall told Mike Hosking it's a sensible approach given there's no evidence of any community transmission of coronavirus in this country.

"One of the things which is really difficult about large gatherings is that once you find out somebody has attended with covid 19, it's really hard to go back and trace the contacts."

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