New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has extended a nationwide lockdown as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country rose and the outbreak widened beyond its largest city, Auckland, to the capital, Wellington.
New Zealanders had been living virus-free and without curbs until Ms Ardern on Tuesday ordered a snap three-day nationwide lockdown and seven-day shutdown in Auckland after the country's first case since February was confirmed.
She extended the lockdown until midnight on 24 August, saying that the outbreak had widened to other cities. "We just don't quite know the full scale of this Delta outbreak," Ms Ardern said at a news conference.