Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced cabinet’s decision to keep the whole of New Zealand at level 4 lockdown until at least Tuesday, 24th August.
The country went into lockdown at 11:59 pm on Tuesday 17th, with Auckland and the Coromandel at level 4 for an initial seven days and the rest of the country for three days.
Cabinet will make a decision on Tuesday 24th about whether the lockdown will need to be extended.
“We need to continue to be cautious,” says Ardern. Ardern said that while it is positive the cases are all linked, she stressed that it is “early days” in the outbreak. “With Delta, we believe it is too soon to draw any firm conclusions.”
11 new cases of in the community were reported today. This brings the total number of cases from the Auckland outbreak to 31. Three of these are located in Wellington, who visited one of the Auckland locations of interest.
“All cases have or are being transferred safely to a managed isolation facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE,” the Ministry of Health said.