(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said largest city Auckland will stay in lockdown four days longer than initially planned to ensure a community outbreak of Covid-19 is under control.
Auckland will exit lockdown at midnight on Aug. 30 rather than on Aug. 26, Ardern told reporters in Wellington on Monday.
Auckland contributes more than a third of New Zealand’s gross domestic product and is home to 1.6 million people. The city was put into level 3 lockdown on Aug. 12 when four cases were discovered, ending the nation’s 102-day Covid free run, while the rest of the country was placed into level 2, requiring social distancing restrictions to be reimposed.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
