Police have revealed how many vehicles at Auckland's northern and southern borders have been turned around.
A hard boundary has been in place since the start of the Delta outbreak, stopping Aucklanders from leaving the city - but that will be lifted on Wednesday.
Police say 2,019,416 vehicles have now been stopped at Auckland's checkpoints, with 18,433 vehicles forced to turn around as of 11:59pm on Thursday.
Police stopped 32,373 vehicles on Thursday, 201 of them forced to return to where they came from.
In terms of heavy vehicles - which make up just under 15 percent of vehicles stopped - police say that 135,918 heavy vehicles have been stopped attempting to leave Tāmaki Makaurau, 2432 of them turned around, with 18 of those on Thursday.
"It’s important to remember that travel across an alert level boundary remains restricted and you will be turned away if you don’t have the required evidence for permitted travel, as outlined on the COVID-19 website," police say.
Police say they charged 71 people with 82 offences in Auckland, Northland and parts of the Waikato for alleged breaches under alert level 3.
Of these, 59 were for failing to comply with order (COVID-19), 12 were for failure to comply with direction/prohibition/restriction, five health act breaches, two were for assaults/threats/hinders/obstructs enforcement officer, and four were for failing to stop (COVID-19 related).
Around the rest of the country, police charged 75 people with 81 offences under alert level 2. Of these, 71 are for failing to comply with order (COVID-19), six for failure to comply with direction/prohibition/restriction, three for failing to stop (COVID-19 related), and one is for assaults/threats/hinders/obstructs enforcement officers.
