Covid: New Zealand’s PM extends nationwide lockdown as Delta cases surge

Twenty-one new cases reported on Sunday, bringing infections associated with outbreak to 72

New Zealand’s prime minister has extended the country’s strict Covid lockdown amid a rise in the number of cases, which are linked to the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Jacinda Ardern, the country’s prime minister, announced on Friday that all 5.1 million New Zealanders would undergo a further three days of lockdown – stretching the measures until midnight on Tuesday at the earliest.

Over the weekend, the outbreak has widened beyond the largest city, Auckland, to the capital, Wellington.

There were 21 new cases reported on Sunday, bringing infections associated with the outbreak to 72.

Around a million people have received both vaccine doses in New Zealand, meaning only a fifth of the population is fully jabbed.

The country’s vaccination pace is the slowest among the wealthy nations of the OECD grouping.

But the country has managed to avoid the sort of outbreaks seen in much of the rest of the world.

New Zealand has recorded just 2,660 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, and 26 related deaths.

In neighbouring Australia, about 60 per cent of the population of 25 million is now under lockdown.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said the country will stick to its strategy of lockdowns against the coronavirus until at least 70 per cent of its population is fully vaccinated, but after that it will have to start living with the virus.

The country set a record with 914 infections on Sunday, its highest daily figure, as the southern and eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory remain under a strict lockdown.

“You can't live with lockdowns forever and at some point, you need to make that gear change, and that is done at 70 per cent,” Mr Morrison said.

“Lockdowns are not a sustainable way to deal with the virus and that's why we have to get to the 70 per cent and 80 per cent marks, so we can start living with the virus.”