This story originally appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced Auckland’s level 3 restrictions will be extended until 11.59pm on Sunday night.
Watch the announcement from 3pm:
Ardern
Beginning her post-Cabinet briefing, Ardern says tomorrow marks 14 days since the reemergence of Covid-19 outside of quarantine facilities.
She says more than a quarter of the testing done across the country has been done in the past 13 days.
Cases have emerged over the past 13 days of cases that occured before Auckland went into level 3, she says, and if it were not for level three, the cluster would be much larger.
The current restrictions – Auckland at alert level 3, and the rest of the country at level 2 – are due to lift at midnight Wednesday and ministers met this afternoon to review whether community transmission has been contained.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will have briefed Cabinet on cases, trends, progress finding the index case, the spread of the virus and whether there are any cases still not linked to the Auckland cluster.
Aucklanders have been divided on the matter, but the city’s mayor and businesses supported an ease of restrictions.
Today there were eight new cases of Covid-19 in the community, plus a case which arrived from overseas into managed isolation.
More to come…
