With New Zealand currently under a coronavirus lockdown, strict measures such as maintaining a distance of 2 meters from others have been imposed by authorities. Other restrictions include only allowing residents to leave their homes for essential reasons, i.e. for groceries or medical care.
According to the Guardian, the website for reporting people who break lockdown rules has already crashed on at least one occasion since going live on Sunday. More than 4,000 reports have already been submitted.
"We've had 4,200 reports of people believing others weren't complying," New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush is quoted as saying by AFP.
"It shows how determined Kiwis [a nickname used to refer to people from New Zealand] are that everyone complies with us,” Bush added.
However, not all of those reports are being pursued by police officers.
“Not every one of these over 4,000 reports will result in a visit from police. For example, some are reports of people jogging or walking past. People are of course allowed to do this within their own neighbourhoods. We have been attending where there are large groups of people congregating,” an unidentified police spokesperson told the Guardian.
According to Bush, at least three people in New Zealand have been detained for breaking the lockdown rules, one of whom remains in police custody. He also noted that campervans carrying tourists traveling throughout the country have been a sustained issue.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has also urged the public to report cases of people breaking lockdown measures.
"Now is not the time to bend the rules. This is a time to stay at home and save lives," Ardern recently told reporters, according to AFP.
The latest data from Worldometer reveals that there are almost 600 cases of the novel coronavirus in New Zealand, but only one death has resulted thus far.