Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, extended the country-wide lockdown on Friday amid an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, as the outbreak grew wider beyond Auckland to reach the capital, Wellington.

On Tuesday, the PM had announced a snap 3-day lockdown across the country with a seven-day shutdown in Auckland after the first COVID-19 case was identified, since February. The lockdown has now been extended until midnight on August 24, as the outbreak had spread to other cities. Ardern said that the complete scale of this Delta outbreak is not yet known. Eleven new cases were reported on Friday, as per the health authorities, three being in Wellington… (Reuters, August 20, 2021)