According to media reports, the regulation should apply from Thursday in closed rooms such as supermarkets, gas stations, medical facilities and public transport.
The day before, after the first local Corona case, the government had already imposed a nationwide lockdown in almost six months. Citizens are only allowed to leave the house under certain conditions. Schools and many shops are closed. The case, which was found in Auckland on Tuesday, is related to the outbreak in the Australian state of New South Wales, according to government information. The task now is to find out how and when the virus – the Delta variant – came to New Zealand, said Ardern.
As of Wednesday, at least six more cases were added in New Zealand, all of which are related to the Auckland case, Ardern said. According to authorities, the case on Tuesday was the first reported local Corona case since the end of February. Until then, infections had only been detected at the border.
The island nation in the South Pacific had largely isolated itself from the outside world in March 2020. In April, the government opened a travel corridor with neighboring Australia, but it was closed again at the end of July due to a corona wave down under. The country with five million inhabitants is considered a model state in the fight against the pandemic. To date, around 2,900 infections have been confirmed and 26 people have died in connection with the virus.