Auckland will move to alert level 3, NZ to level 2 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.  The lockdown comes into effect at 6am on Sunday morning.

It comes after the Ministry of Health announced on Saturday evening that there is a new case of COVID-19 in the community. They are the older sibling of a Papatoetoe High School student who is a casual-plus contact.

"Case M developed symptoms on Tuesday February 23. As a result, the person is regarded as being potentially infectious from Sunday February 21."

Interviews are now underway to establish how the case was infected. The case is the 13th connected to the Auckland February cluster.

The Papatoetoe High School student had previously returned three negative tests for COVID-19 and is asymptomatic.