MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th August, 2021) Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern announced on Friday easing coronavirus-related lockdown measures across the country, except for the largest city of Auckland and the Northland region, media reported.
Most of the country will downgrade from the maximum Alert Level 4 to Level 3 starting August 31. Lockdowns in Auckland and Northland will be in force for at least two more weeks, the RNZ broadcaster said.
"We will need to be confident we've stamped it out and have cases contained and isolated," Ardern told reporters, as quoted by the broadcaster.
On Monday, Ardern announced the extension of lockdown until August 27 in the whole country and until the end of the month in Auckland as the highly contagious Delta variant causes a spike in COVID-19 infections. On Friday, the country reported 70 new cases of the infection, bringing the total toll to 347, with most of them reported in Auckland.
