Mon 20 September 2021:
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday that Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, will remain in a COVID-19 lockdown for at least another two weeks, though some restrictions may be eased.
Ardern said the city of two million would move down to level three on New Zealand’s four-tier coronavirus response system by late Tuesday, even as authorities remain committed to eliminating a delta-variant outbreak.
“We’re moving now because the advice we have is that we do not have widespread, undetected transmission in Auckland,” she told reporters.
“If everyone continues to play their part, we can continue stamping out (the virus).”
Stay-at-home orders will continue to be in place, but some establishments, such as takeaway food outlets, will be able to use contactless delivery.
When the first case of the highly transmissible delta strain was discovered in the community on August 17, New Zealand implemented a statewide lockdown.
The cluster has been centered in Auckland, with the rest of the country having been released from lockdown earlier this month.
Ardern said the North Island city could do the same when authorities were confident the outbreak was “well contained”.
“At the moment, we continue to see mystery cases cropping up through community testing,” she said.
“We want to see a turnaround in some of these situations.”
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