New Zealand to extend lockdown of largest city

Published On: August 24, 2020 11:54 AM NPT By: Associated Press

A man and a child wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus ride a bicycle of bike-sharing companies in Beijing, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. China has gone eight days without reporting a new local case of COVID-19, with the Beijing International Film Festival among public events that are returning. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

CHRISTCHURCH, Aug 24: New Zealand’s prime minister says the lockdown of Auckland will last an extra four days as authorities try to stamp out an outbreak of the coronavirus.

The two-week lockdown of the country’s largest city was due to end Wednesday but will now continue through Sunday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that authorities need to be sure they have found the perimeter of the outbreak and they’re not seeing too many cases crop up that they haven’t found through contact tracing.

New Zealand went 102 days without any community transmission of the virus before the cluster of cases was found in Auckland this month. Ardern said the rest of the country would continue for now with some restrictions under Alert Level 2, and it would become mandatory from next week to wear masks on public transport under level 2.

Health authorities on Monday reported nine new virus cases.