Motorists travelling out of town for special ingredients and spices were among those turned away at a police checkpoint at Maramarua over the long weekend.

The "stay home, save lives" message just isn't getting through to some Kiwis, with a surge in lockdown breaches yesterday.

There have been 1205 recorded breaches since lockdown began, police said on Monday. The numbers were current as of 9pm Sunday and were an increase of 358 on the previous day.

Since Alert level 4 restrictions began in response to the coronavirus pandemic there have also been 138 prosecutions, 1038 warnings and 29 youth referrals.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF A person shows checkpoint police a picture of a phone showing a travel itinerary. [File]

Police have asked people to stay home during the long weekend and prime minister Jacinda Ardern told people to have a "staycation" during Easter.

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At checkpoints over the Easter Weekend, officers stopped people who had planned to go on day walks in the bush and a search was almost sparked for a man who told a family member he was going fishing.

As of Monday, five people have died from the virus in New Zealand.

ALERT LEVEL 4 RULES

Police have recently released updated guidelines around Alert Level 4 rules.

- Everyone in New Zealand is to be isolated or quarantined at their current place of residence except as permitted for essential personal movement.

- Exercise is to be done in an outdoor place that can be readily accessed from home and two-metre physical distancing must be maintained.

- Recreation and exercise does not involve swimming, water-based activities (for example, surfing or boating), hunting, tramping, or other activities of a kind that expose participants to danger or may require search and rescue services.

- A child can leave the residence of one joint caregiver to visit or stay at the residence of another joint care-giver (and visit or stay at that residence) if there is a shared bubble arrangement.

- A person can leave their residence to visit or stay at another residence (and visit or stay at that residence) under a shared bubble arrangement if - one person lives alone in one, or both, of those residences; or everyone in one of those residences is a vulnerable person.