The fresh cases have emerged in Auckland and Wellington today
New Zealand will remain in lockdown for another four days until Friday after 35 new COVID-19 cases were announced today.
Auckland’s lockdown has been further extended until midnight on August 31, after 33 of the cases were identified in the city, both from transmission between household contacts and locations of concern. The other two cases were in Wellington.
Announcing the extension this morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed that Cabinet would re-examine the country-wide level four restrictions on Friday. The country was due to come out of lockdown tomorrow, but cases are continuing to emerge.
It’s the country’s first outbreak of the infectious Delta variant and Ardern said she is confident in its "short and sharp" approach.
Currently there are over 100 cases linked to the outbreak and more than 300 locations of interest have been identified in Auckland, Wellington and the Coromandel.
Chief health officer Dr Ashley Bloomfield said they are expanding the number of contact tracers to help keep on top of the spread. Around 1400 people have been identified by contract tracers, the majority of whom are close contacts, with 300 in the south island.
He said the next few days would give health authorities a better idea of whether the virus has spread to Wellington and the Coromandel.
More to follow.
