“New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extended a nationwide lockdown on Friday as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country jumped and the outbreak widened beyond its largest city, Auckland, to the capital, Wellington,” said Reuters.
The activity restrictions were initially of three-days for the nation as a whole and seven days for Auckland on Tuesday. However, “Ardern extended the lockdown until midnight on Aug 24, saying that the outbreak had widened to other cities,” said Reuters.
The news also quotes NZ PM Ardern as saying, “We just don't quite know the full scale of this Delta outbreak."
"We want the whole country on high alert right now," Ardern added.
Additional quotes (from Reuters)
Health authorities said 11 new cases were recorded on Friday, of which three cases were in Wellington.
The three in Wellington had recently traveled to Auckland and had visited locations that were identified as exposed to the outbreak, the health ministry said in a statement.
New Zealand's health chief, Ashley Bloomfield, warned the lockdown in Auckland, the epicenter of the outbreak, may be extended further.
FX reactions
NZD/USD pays a little heed to the downbeat news, picking up bids to refresh intraday high on the contrary. The reason could be linked to the USD pullback.
Read: NZD/USD bears ignore PBOC to attack 0.6800 as coronavirus woes escalate