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A surfer mauled to death by a shark on the NSW Mid-North Coast had been married for just a few months and will never get to meet his child.

Tim Thompson died on the sand at Shelley Beach, just north of Coffs Harbour at the weekend, despite the best efforts of fellow surfers to save him.

Mr Thompson leaves behind his pregnant wife Katie and their first baby is due in January.

READ MORE: Man dies after being bitten by shark near Coffs Harbour

"My heart aches for our baby who will never get to meet you," she wrote on Facebook today.

Mr Thompson was bitten on the arm by what's believed to be a great white shark while surfing yesterday morning.

Hugh Riley was also out in the water just 20 metres away.

"Saw the cloud of blood and him hanging onto his board trying to get himself to shore," Mr Riley told 9News.

READ MORE: Missing toddler AJ found alive on day four of search

"It was a very harrowing experience – he had some pretty horrendous injuries."

Mr Riley and his three mates dragged Mr Thompson from the water and performed CPR for 10 minutes until paramedics arrived.

"Pulled him up the beach – tourniquet his arm – just did everything we could that we knew of," he said.

"Fight or flight and we all fought."

READ MORE: State's hard border could stay until 2022

Witness Aaron Armstrong said he saw the surfers trying to save the dad-to-be's life.

"You saw them stop the CPR – jump on the defib – and people just trying to keep this beautiful soul alive," Mr Armstrong said.

Today lifeguards used a drone to search nearby waters for any sharks but all they spotted were tuna and baitfish.

Mr Thompson has been described as kind and generous, he loved the ocean and surfing. The couple had only moved back to the area three years ago.

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Television viewers in New Zealand were left scratching their heads after a camera was knocked over during a live cross to a reporter.

Shaun Hendy, who provides COVID-19 analysis for TVNZ, was speaking when a shirtless child abruptly ran past the camera.

Moments later, the camera was knocked to the ground and a woman could be heard yelling.

READ MORE: Missing toddler AJ found alive on day four of search

TVNZ then crossed back to the studio where presenter Wendy Petrie said she wasn't sure what happened, but hoped both reporter and camera operator were okay.

An hour later, Mr Hendy posted on Twitter that everyone was fine, and it was simply a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Seems to have been a case of wrong place, wrong time. Camera operator and a member of the public were hurt, but both are on their feet now," Mr Hendy wrote.

"I am fine. Thanks @nzpolice for prompt response."

READ MORE: State's hard border could stay until 2022

https://twitter.com/hendysh/status/1434753457785741317

Mr Hendy told New Zealand media outlet The Spinoff that the camera operator and another woman were knocked over by the young man.

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All of New Zealand outside of Auckland will move to level 2 at midnight on Tuesday while Auckland will stay at level 4 until at least next Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said.

She also introduced face coverings and two metre physical distancing to level 2 restrictions for people inside facilities like hospitality and event venues. They will now have a limit of 50 people indoors while outdoor spaces can have up to 100 people.

"We are making progress but there are some critical challenges ahead. We continue to see persistent cases connected to the outbreak," Ms Ardern said at the post-Cabinet announcement on Monday.

READ MORE: Missing toddler AJ found alive on day four of search

"We have learned the hard way that Delta travels through the air."

The country went into lockdown on August 17 as a response to the Delta outbreak before dropping to level 3 on August 31. But Auckland, the centre of the outbreak, remained at a strict level 4 and was set to stay there for at least another week.

The decision posed a challenge to Northland, which was now cut off from the rest of the country, but the Government was working through the issues, Ms Ardern said.

"Level 4 restrictions are working but the job is not done. We are within sight of elimination but we cannot drop the ball."

READ MORE: State's hard border could stay until 2022

The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there were 20 new community cases in Auckland, with 821 cases in the outbreak. Six of the cases were in an ICU or high dependency unit.

Ninety-one per cent of the more than 38,000 contacts had been tested for COVID-19 and 33 cases had yet to be epidemiologically linked to the cluster, including five of Monday's cases, but Dr Bloomfield expected that number to fall.

"All these numbers are moving in the right direction, which is reassuring," he said.

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He said officials would be working to ensure there weren't any undetected community cases in Auckland. Staff at MIQ would be tested twice weekly and essential workers crossing the Auckland border would be expected to have had a test in last seven days and show proof of this.

There will be more regular surveillance testing for health workers treating COVID-19 patients as well, he said.

"The sole purpose is to ensure we stamp out the Delta outbreak."

READ MORE: Auckland terrorist was fighting deportation for immigration fraud

Infections had been falling since late last week with 20 cases announced on both Saturday and Sunday. Dr Bloomfield said it showed the restrictions were working.

Bloomfield on Sunday confirmed the Ministry of Health was working on tweaks to alert level 2 but there wouldn't be any regional differences between the North and South Island over what level 2 entailed. None of the cases in the outbreak had been in the South Island.

Auckland is due an alert level review next Monday.

This story originally appeared on Stuff.co.nz and has been republished with permission

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