Two porcupettes (baby porcupines) have been born at Auckland Zoo in January, 2020.

Auckland Zoo staff have a plan to bunk down with the animals if the coronavirus pandemic gets any worse.

It comes as the Ministry of Health announces there are now 797 confirmed or probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

At an emergency Auckland Council meeting on Thursday, director executive of programmes Ian Maxwell ran through what council staff were up to in the wake of the outbreak.

AUCKLAND ZOO Orangutans Charlie, Melur and Wanita have recently returned to Auckland Zoo from their temporary home in Christchurch.

He said if it "comes to the crunch", those who look after the zoo will end up living there away from their families.

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Regional Facilities Auckland is looking at a number of contingency plans to deal with the emerging Covid-19 crisis, an Auckland Zoo spokeswoman said.

"At the zoo, our team is mapping out a number of scenarios depending on how the uncertain situation in New Zealand evolves.

"These scenarios will help ensure continuity of care for the animals and best protect the health and welfare of our staff and wider community.

"We are still in the process of developing these plans and so we are not in a position to share anything just at this stage."

Supplied/Gail Stent Auckland Zoo has welcomed a baby emperor tamarin, the first ever to be born at the zoo.

Since the zoo's closure, it has been working on ways to bring the zoo to people at home.

Last week, the zoo posted a photo of a bunch of wifi-enabled cameras to Twitter.

"Staff whose role does not extend to caring for the animals and our facilities are also hard at work, busy developing new and exciting initiatives so that we can continue to share our love for wildlife and wild places and bring the zoo to you, from the safety of your homes," it said in a statement.

Chris McKeen/Stuff A porcupine had baby porcupettes earlier this year.

"Thanks to today's amazing technology – wherever you are – we can still bring you a great zoo experience and we can all still come together to build a future for wildlife – for the benefit of all – animals, people and our precious environment."

On Wednesday, the first Facebook livestream was uploaded and those at home were able to watch otters play in their enclosure for an hour.

A number of animals have been born at the zoo over the past few months.

AUCKLAND ZOO A red panda was born at Auckland Zoo over Christmas.

This included a zebra foal that was born on Boxing Day, 2019. Birth defects meant the foal was recently put down.

A red panda cub was born just before Christmas 2019 and South African porcupettes were born on January 18.

In March, the zoo celebrated the arrival of the first ever baby emperor tamarin to be born there.

Auckland Zoo said people should keep a look out for the latest news, content, activities and conservation education programmes on its social media and websites to see what it is doing over the lockdown period.