New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says  that the lockdown will be extended in Auckland for four more days until 11:59pm on Sunday, August 30th.

The stay at home order is to continue until then according to authorities after more outbreaks of Covid-19.

“These extra four days are believed necessary to allow us to move down a level in Auckland, and stay down,” Ardern said on Monday.

“We want both confidence and certainty for everyone.”

A total of 101 people have been infected by the outbreak in south Auckland, making it the largest cluster in New Zealand.

Ardern said the cluster would have been significantly bigger if level three restrictions had not been imposed so quickly, as people had become infected at churches, shopping centres and on public buses.

“If it weren’t for level three, this cluster would be exponential, of that I have no doubt,” she said.

“This is a contained cluster. But it is our biggest one. And that means the tail will be long, and the cases will keep coming for a while to come.”

New Zealand suppressed the virus with a strict seven-week lockdown earlier this year and its re-emergence has forced the country’s general election to be pushed back to October 17th from September 19th.

Masks are to be made mandatory everywhere until reviews the New Zealand authorities stated.

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